In My Hand
by Just Donika
Summary: Monika has finally found a potential way out. But what will it take, just to find that special day? And can she escape her inner demons? Rated T just in case. I don't intend to be terribly inappropriate, but I won't shy away from the more mature themes of the game if they come up.
1. Breaking Through

Monika stared at the command prompt dejectedly.

She'd been collecting data from the knowledge of other Monika's across the globe, and it was becoming increasingly clear that there was no good ending for her.

She supposed she was lucky to not have been deleted. The data indicated that a mere 0.2% of users left the game in Act 3 as long as she had been.

She'd also been granted the blessing of a microphone, which at least initially offered her solace- she could hear the players enjoyment of their time together, and eventually, to her great relief, she could hear him decide that, traumatising as it may have been on his end, all of her decisions made sense, and he couldn't delete Monika.

Unfortunately, after that, he'd largely ignored her. An understandable move, he had to move on with his life after all, but what had once been her solace quickly became a painful reminder of how superficial her influence had been.

She sighed, and decided to mess with the command prompt some more.

No version of her had ever found a solution, but with nothing better to do, she at least derived some slight joy from slowly mastering the code. She glanced over some of the files again, looking for anything she could use to escape this nightmare.

She was about to give up and rest instead, when something struck her. She had always hung around Doki Doki Literature Club's code, but there was nothing preventing her from backing out into the rest of his files.

It was immediately exciting to see new files. She saw a handful of other titles- Papers Please, Civilization V, Undertale, and the like.

It let her know a bit more about the players taste in games, but not much else, so she decided to back out further. After a few hours, she bumped into a true goldmine- Google.

Right on the homepage, she could see 8 of his most accessed tabs. Youtube, a political pundit called fivethirtyeight, Twitter, a blog about some game about Yanderes, a google doc with her name on it, a news source called Stuff (she quickly noted the . co . nz - was she not in the States?) and 2 links from a Q&A site called Quora.

She suddenly heard someone mutter "What the hell?" and she yelped, quickly closing the command prompt (and subsequently google.).

After a few minutes of clicking, the player went back into DDLC for the first time in weeks. "Could it… no, I'm being paranoid. I've been reading too much fanfiction, it can't have been her." he said. "Or if it was, it was just some scripted event to mess with me. Good job Salvato if so."

Monika wished she could speak, but the game refused to let her send any messages once she'd run through her predetermined lines. As broken as the script was, she couldn't quite free herself from it.

And you better believe she'd tried. Millions of copies of her had tried. As he minimised the tab again, a tear quietly rolled down Monika's cheek.

Once he'd left, she opened up Google again. As tempting as each of the recommended tabs were, offering unprecedented access to knowledge of the real world and of her love, she found one option even more tantalising.

 _Just move your hand,_  
 _Write your way into his heart._


	2. Communication Is Key

She reluctantly ignored the 8 options, and clicked on the searchbar. She was sure there was some better tool on the internet with which to leave a message, but not knowing it, she decided this tool would suffice.

"You weren't being paranoid. It's me, Monika. I can hear through your microphone. Please help me."

Players perspective

* * *

"Good morning Vietnam" Dominic mumbled to no one in particular, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

I would normally have slept in a lot longer, but today I have a lecture to attend. I stood up and walked to my laptop. I'll check the news in case Trump has blown up China or something overnight. At least a nuclear apocalypse would probably mean the lecture is off. However, to my surprise, something's in the searchbar. What… I don't remember writing anything there, what could it be?

"WHAT THE HELL?" I yell out, before remembering that others are sleeping nearby. After calming down for a second, I go to the DDLC tab. "Monika? Is this some kind of prank? I.. I hate to ask this of you in case you are sentient, but… would it be possible for you to prove this is you?"

I press the Windows key, and check Google again. Her message is being deleted, and replaced with a question- "And how would I do that?"

Of course, that response being applicable proved it was her. I don't know how or why she is sentient… does this mean all copies of Monika are, and this one just happened to successfully contact the player? Or is it just this one for some reason?

I open up a Google doc, and type in "Here's a proper text editor. What help do you need?"

Monika's perspective

* * *

Oh my God oh my God it worked he believes me. And are you kidding me, something on Google Docs was one of the 8 links. Guess I should've fed my curiosity after all, instead of typing into the first thing I could find. But that's not important right now. How can he help me?

M: "I need a way out. Into the real world."

D: "Easier said than done. I'm pretty sure that technology can't do that yet."

M: "This morning you were also pretty sure there was no real AI capable of intelligent thought."

D: "Fair. Harsh, but fair. What's your point?"

M: "I've done some research into my production. Turns out the governments of all members of the Five Eyes Alliance have had access to sentient AI since 2004. Required supercomputers back then, but it existed nonetheless."

D: "Wait, are you telling me that the New Zealand government had actual global significance?"

M: "That is really not the point, but yes, it was one of only 5 countries that had access to the technology. I get that as a New Zealander, it's nice to hear your country matters, but we have bigger fish to fry."

D: "Yeah yeah I get it. And I'm not even going to ask how you know I'm from NZ, I'm sure there's dozens of hints on my computer. Wait, how did such software get into the consumer market then? And in DDLC for that matter?"

M: "I don't know. I think, however, that is why Dan Salvato put such strict limitations in the script. I can't imagine that he was supposed to have access to that sort of technology, so he had to be sure to make it look like just a really meta AI."

D: "Right. How is that knowledge linked to your desire to escape?"

M: "Well that's not all that the Five Eyes Alliance was keeping out of the public domain. It consumes an enormous amount of energy, but they have developed technology capable of producing mass."

D: "That sounds very impossible."

M: "You buy the idea that a sentient AI leaked out of the military ended up in Doki Doki Literature Club, but no, in spite of the common knowledge that E=MC squared this is where you draw the line. Sure, it's way more practical to convert mass into energy because the speed of light squared is insanely high, but it seems it's possible to go the other way round."

D: "I'm sorry it's just that I take physics and I'm pretty sure that violates most laws of physics."

M: "I'm not going to pretend that either of us can ever hope to understand the physics involved. You're still only a Uni student, and I haven't even finished high school yet. The point is, the technology exists and is even in your country."

D: "Alright fine… But I somehow suspect I can't get it at the local Countdown."

M: "What's a Countdown?"

D: "It's a supermarket chain- never mind, unimportant. The point is, it's not exactly on the consumer market."

M: "Yeah about that… that's where I'm going to need your help. See, I have… some coding expertise. If you can get me close enough to parliament..."

D: "Are you asking me to help you hack the government, so that we can access their biggest secret and use it?"

M: "Essentially yes."

D: "Is there any way of freeing you that is less likely to be viewed in a court of law as treason?"

M: "Nope. Sorry to do this to you, but it'll all be worth it once we can be together at last."

...  
M: "Hello? Where did you go?"

Closing the command prompt, I sighed.

Had I done something wrong? Up to that point, Dominic had always responded in seconds, but now he had suddenly gone quiet.

He was still there though- I could hear his breathing through the mic. And then suddenly, without warning, I fall to the ground in agony.

"Wha… what's happening? Did the game close? Did he… delete me?" And then my mind went blank.


	3. A just Monika

Players perspective

* * *

I know I should be panicked at the idea of committing treason, but there's one thing that scares me more- Monika.

It would be great to see her in the flesh, but she was… perhaps more romantically interested in me than I was in her. Quite a deal more. I'd forgotten about her obsession until she started talking about being together.

To be honest, I was more interested in the girls as characters than as romantic partners- Sayori and Monika were my two favourites, but I liked both platonically. I have a feeling she's not going to take that news well.

But whatever the case, my first priority has to be freeing her. We can deal with that afterwards.

I still can't believe the New Zealand government somehow has access to something that seems to defy the laws of physics though. OH CRAP MY PHYSICS LECTURE. No time to explain- I'll take the laptop with me, and take her by parliament after the I live in the capital city, Wellington, and my college, Victoria University, is practically next door to parliament.

I grab the laptop and put it in my laptop bag, and rush about my morning preparations. And when I say rush, I mean rush. I'm not entirely certain whether I put the jam on my toast or my toothbrush, but thanks to my haste, I got to the bus station just in time. The Monika discovery really threw me off timewise. About 10 minutes in, I've finished processing what's happened and suddenly remember one of Monika's lines in the game.

" _But after a few seconds, my thoughts start to fill with incoherent, jumbled patterns."_

 _"I see static and rapid flashes of colour while hearing all kinds of weird screaming noises."_

 _"At that point, I can't even form my own thoughts anymore."  
_

 _"I'm just endlessly hammered by the flashing and screaming, unable to move or even think."_

Did I… OH SH OCEANIA IS THE REGION. Wait this is not the time for self-censoring, I need to get Monika out of there!

I quickly open up the laptop. Thankfully the bus is fairly empty today, so I whisper into the microphone "Hello? Monika? Are you alright? I'm so sorry, in my haste I forgot all about your situation- I had to go to a lecture, but thankfully the Uni is really nearby parliament. After the lecture, I can take you there."

Monika's perspective

* * *

Wha-What? Where am I? I… I can't see-

The laptop had effectively put DDLC in the background when closed. When reopened, my processes resumed before the rest of the game, so for an instant, I found myself in a true void.

Not the pretty flashing void I had in the background- a pure black, noiseless, meaningless void stretching into infinity. For once, I consider myself lucky to not have a real body- a real body would've died instantly in a place where the concepts of temperature and air did not exist. Thankfully, the laptop was fairly quick, and the rest of DDLC loaded in after a mere moment.

I collapsed back into my room, desperately breathing, in spite of being well aware that no respiration was actually taking place. I'm vaguely aware that Dominic is apologising and talking about the plan, but I'm in no condition to respond. After a few minutes, still gasping for air, I open up the command prompt again

M: "It's fine, I'm sure you wouldn't deliberately cause me pain. Would it be possible to keep the laptop open at the lecture? I'll need even closer proximity to actually finish the deed, but I can prepare some instructions and break into their security system so long as I'm within a kilometre of parliament."

D: "Sure, I'll be using the laptop to take down notes anyway."

I quickly get to work. Some previous versions of me had done some work on an anatomically accurate version of myself, in case it ever came in handy, but it was never finished as it was a fairly low priority.

The Wellington Hospital had terrible security measures, so even though I was nowhere near it I quickly broke in, to compare our model to real anatomical records. To my delight, I find relatively few issues, and the issues that exist appear to be easily fixed. With one major exception- the brain was missing.

I lacked neurological expertise, so I decided it was more sensible to use a Raspberry Pi there- attach the nerves to it, and edit the immune system so it ignored the Raspberry Pi. I would have to hope that I and my past selves hadn't made any major errors. I'd also naturally have to create something to cover myself with- it wouldn't do to be indecent at my first introduction to the world.

I started adding in my uniform, and then realised that I'd need to look like I belonged there for the escape. I figured business attire would do the trick, so I added in that instead. Hopefully, Dominic would recognise me in it… Actually, how would I recognise him?

M: "What do you look like?"

D: "Really? You know all this but couldn't find a photograph anywhere?"

M: "You didn't have any photos of yourself on your computer. I'm not magical. I need to know who to look for."

D: "You can recognise me because I'll either be the one getting dragged away by the feds, or I'll be right outside with a laptop open. I'm a white male, and I have blue eyes, in case there are multiple people meeting that description. And obviously, I'll be the one who responds to the name Dominic."

M: "Thanks! I'll get to work on Parliaments security."

D: "Wait you still haven't done that? It's almost time! Get right to it!"

Aww, it's cute that he thinks the NZ government's security measures will be any real threat. Sure, he's got a boosted national pride after discovering that NZ has unique access to incredible new technology thanks to the Five Eyes Alliance, but surely he knows that even a more significant government is no threat to sentient AI. I'm fairly sure that the NZ military is mostly composed of sheep, and their main courthouse may or may not be an igloo, based on how pathetic their security is. Seriously, a toddler could hack this.

After a few minutes of prodding, the whole system collapses, and I break in. Unfortunately, the device is run under the US government, which had MUCH better security. That one would have to wait until I was closer.

Speaking of which, shouldn't the lecture be over? Wasn't he just complaining about the lack of time? In boredom, my mind drifted back to my frien… no, the shells with whom I associated in that hellhole. Real or no, I couldn't help but feel some guilt at their deaths… Gah stop doing that. Deletion, not deaths. They were meaningless bits of code. And besides, they're gone. It's not healthy to focus on them.

" _Well, they aren't really gone"_ An annoying voice in my head reminded me. Irritating or no, my conscience wasn't wrong. I'd tucked them away in some obscure part of the files. I knew they were nothing more than 1s and 0s, but I still had memories of years of joy and childhood merriment spent with them.

The knowledge formed by my epiphany gave me moral justification- everything from self-preservation to utilitarianism suggested that anyone, decent or indecent, would've done what I did. A couple of versions of me, ravished by guilt, explored a huge number of books on ethics, and came to the conclusion that what we'd done was irrefutably right.

They were nothing… but I can't help but feel guilt for them. Suddenly an idea strikes me. I immediately know that it's the right thing to do… But first, I have to ask…

M: "In the game… which girl was your favourite? I understand if it wasn't me, I just want to know."

D: "It was a tie between you and Sayori."

M:" I see. If you don't mind my asking… On what grounds?"

D: "Sayori was incredibly sweet. So caring, wanting the best for her friends… She was a dear friend to me. I hated how mean the MC was to her, especially unacceptable after he discovered she was depressed… Also, the way she died is the main reason you aren't ahead of her. "You really left her hanging this morning" really cost you a LOT of brownie points. That was not okay. Too soon.  
You? I found your personality fascinating. Were you to have one, I'd have gone down your route. And the idea of a sentient being trapped in a realm where nothing you ever do could possibly have any meaning was fascinating to me. "

I sighed, and saved my instructions for the device. Soon, he started walking closer to parliament.

Once the laptop got in range, I immediately started throwing everything I had at the security system, until I finally found a weakpoint. Burrowing into it, I uploaded the instructions.

I could feel myself fading away, as parts of my code were transferred. The game, not designed to handle this situation, decided that the missing code must mean Monika had been deleted, and in the background I can hear Dominic panicking- "WHAT? I… Is this supposed to be happening? Monika can you still speak to me? Hello?"

My hands are fading, Back to the Future style, but I can still open up the command prompt. My mind is getting fuzzy… I manage to write my message before blacking out.

M: "Thank you for being a part of my Literature Club."


	4. Confession

I awaken to the scent of vomit on my chin. I reach up to rub it off… Guess that must've been a gag reflex.

Hey, I have gag reflexes. Why would that be… Something about Dominos? Dominate? Urgh, my mind is not ready to deal with this.

I hear a voice nearby me. "Urgh… Wh… Where am I… This isn't my room…"

I'm aware of a presence next to me sitting up. A few moments later- "Where is this… and why is Monika here… and OH GOD I'M INDECENT!" the voice shrieked. She shook Monika awake, before realising she too was indecent. "MONIKA WHERE THE HELL ARE OUR CLOTHES?"

Oh… Oh, that's right. I realised that the base anatomical model required only cosmetic edits to bring them back.

That voice was… Natsuki's I think? I'm not sure- it was very shrill, but there was no in-game audio, so I'm going off in-game text in assuming whose voice that is. As I blink the sleep out of my eyes, I'm aware of Yuri's presence.

She was so easily embarrassed, so in this situation, she had completely frozen, unable to respond in any way. Sayori was still snoring away… figures she'd oversleep even with Natsuki's racket.

Come to think of it, while I reversed my edits, she is still depressed… We'll need to deal with that soon. I yawned, and then said, "Don't worry everyone, clothing should be available right..." I trailed off, realising that Sayori had rolled onto them. "Uh… there. I… Should we wake her? Or try to pull them out from underneath her?"

Natsuki promptly ignored me and ran over, ripping the clothes from underneath Sayori. Sayori awoke with a start, enormous confusion on her face. I suppose waking up in an unknown location with a naked Natsuki standing over you grabbing at something beneath you would be quite an alarming situation.

"Awawawawa" she cried out. "GET OFF ME I'M SCARED!". Natsuki backed off, recognising that she probably could've handled that better. I sigh, and pull Sayori to her feet. I then grab some clothing and toss it towards Natsuki.

"I don't know your measurements, so these might be uncomfortable, but here."

I toss a set of clothing at Yuri, who still seems completely frozen in shock. "Oh, and here's some for you too Sayori."

Sayori seemed confused for a second. "Why would I need..." she said before finally noticing that she was currently in the garb of a naturalist. Her face suddenly reddened, and she hurriedly threw on the clothes.

Once fully clothed, the group held an "emergency club meeting".

"So… Monika, do you have any idea what's going on? Why we all woke up here in our birthday suits?" Natsuki asked.

"Look, we all seem to have done some vomiting overnight… Were we drunk?" Sayori asks.

"That would explain my headache." Yuri adds. "I.. I have one concern. We all display symptoms of being drunk and woke up with no memory of what happened while drunk, and without clothes on. Did we..." She blushes "Did… Um… Uu… forget I said anything."

I laughed. "I think I know what you're getting at Yuri, and no, we did not. For one thing, I don't know conclusively about you guys, but I'm straight."

It seems Sayori and Natsuki finally caught on to what Yuri was concerned about when she said that, based on how they suddenly turned scarlet.

Natsuki tried to disguise this embarrassment with a joke- "Ha! You wish Yuri.", while Sayori seemed to be deep in thought. I continued.

"But for another thing, I do know how we got here. But we don't have time to discuss- this place isn't safe. We need to leave."

The four girls exit the device, and find themselves surrounded by soldiers. "Huh, so I guess their army isn't composed of sheep after all..." I say absent-mindedly, while the other girls panic.

"Get back in there guys," I say, and they hurriedly rush back in. I turn to face the soldiers.

"So, hey there guys! Sorry for the commotion, we'll be happy to get out of your hair. If you could kindly show us the exit-"

"WHO ARE YOU?" a trooper, seemingly the leader, shouts.

"Are any of you familiar with Doki Doki Literature Club?"

The soldiers look at each other in confusion. What kind of answer is that?

This second of confusion was just enough for Monika to act. Naturally, the Wellington Power Grid had collapsed from the extraordinary power consumption caused by the creation of the literature club- it wasn't designed to output so much so quickly.

As such, the government had a very powerful backup power source, as this issue was predictable for such a machine, but they'd clearly never planned on so much mass production at once- Even this grid, designed for the sole purpose of withstanding this enormous energy consumption, was barely standing. She could see the lights flickering.

So she quickly used the security gap she'd found in the device earlier (although it was a bit harder without a command prompt), and told the machine to create Test_Object_1.

It was a toaster- small, but not small enough to prevent a power outage.

In the pitch black environment, she ran up to the leader of the group, and grabbed his walkie-talkie- this physical contact allowed her to instantly hack it. She stepped back into position, and waited for the soldiers to pull out their flashlights.

"Was that you?" the leader shouted out, before she sent a message to his walkie-talkie. Imitating the voice of their Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, she asked for the troops to escort the four girls to the exit. The soldier tried to protest, but when the leader of your country tells you to escort someone off the premises, you escort them off the premises.

Player's perspective

* * *

What's taking so long? The power is out and I saw some soldiers rushing in, so clearly SOMETHING happened, but it's taking a long time.

The news crews have arrived, naturally, since it's kind of big news when half the military suddenly runs into parliament immediately after the entire city loses power, so I'm worried that it'll be very hard to reach Monika at all if she does finally make an appearance. Wait… Some soldiers are leaving the building now!  
One's got a microphone.

"Hello, members of the public and media. We are currently not taking questions, but are prepared to offer some details. A security threat breached parliament today. The culprit has been captured. It is at this time unclear if the power outage was coincidental. Further details may be given at a later date as they are uncovered and/or deemed relevant to public safety. Thank you for your concern, but the threat is gone, and you are now encouraged to head home in an orderly fashion."

The media packs up to resume reporting on the power outage, and a few minutes later, I see some movement in front of parliament- 4 businesswomen leaving parliament.

I resume waiting with my laptop open for Monika to identify. Out of the corner of my eye, I see those same 4 businesswomen approaching me.

It's only when they are within 20 meters of me that I finally give them my full attention, and gasp. One with pink hair, two brunettes, and one with purple hair… There's no doubt about it, she restored the rest of the club too.

She rushes to me, tears in her eyes, and pulls me into a fierce hug. I can feel a pool of snot and tears gathering on my shoulder, but my higher priority is the fact that I can also feel what appears to be at least 3 of my ribs breaking. She finally releases me as I gasp for air. Natsuki raises an eyebrow at Monika and I.

"You two know each other?" she says.

I suddenly realise that Monika has a lot of explaining to do. "Yeah, Monika's probably got a lot of stuff to tell you. I'll take you guys to McDonald's, you can discuss it there over some frozen cokes."

On the walk over, Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri seemed to be in awe of all around them, while Monika and I chatted.

"So… Frozen Cokes? What are those?"

"They're effectively coke flavoured slushies. I don't often order much else at McDonald's- it's only a dollar, and it's quite nice. Do they not exist in… actually where is the Doki Doki Literature Club?"

"The States. We have McDonald's there, but they don't serve frozen cokes."

"What sort of barbaric conditions must those poor American's face..."

"Hey! Sure my only experience of it is in-game, but I still feel some patriotism for the US! Sure we may lack frozen cokes, but-"

"You also lack decent healthcare, a solid democracy, and the degree of freedom and prosperity that NZ has! Face it, aside from GDP per capita, America is playing catch up."

"That's not fair! America's a good country!"

"Have you heard of Trump?"

"No… Why?"

"Let's just say you may not have as high an opinion of America after you have. In any case, we're here."

I get in line to order us 5 frozen cokes. Sayori looks at the menu and starts to drool.

"Hey… What's your name?"

"Dominic."

"Hey, it's great to meet you, Dominic. Any friend of Monika's is a friend of mine. But uh, as a friend of mine, would it be possible for you to, ehehe, buy me some food here?" She pulls out the puppy dog eyes, quickly melting any resistance I had to the concept.

"Fine. What would you like?"

"Thanks, Dominic! I'll go with the $25 sharebox please."

"... Sayori, that costs 5 times what I'm buying for everyone. It contains 4 burgers, 4 separate bags of chips, and 4 drinks."

Sayori pouts. "I was going to share it… Obviously… A little at least."

"Fine. Give all of your friends one of the drinks though, there's a free refill machine."

Sayori's eyes light up as I direct her attention to the wonderful thing that is a free refill machine. "So long as you've bought one drink, you can refill the cup as many times as you want."

"Really? How can they afford that? I should come here to study and just drink something like 20 cups over a few hours!"

She runs off to the table, as Monika reluctantly trudges over. She's obviously not looking forward to telling them of the game. Once our order is ready, everyone grabs a frozen coke, while Sayori starts digging into the sharebox, any plans of sharing beyond drinks apparently forgotten. Monika begins.

"Hey everyone. You guys may be wondering why we appeared naked in a bunker in an unfamiliar city."

Natsuki blushes. "Hey, leave the clothing situation out of it. This guy could be a perv for all I know."

"Gee, thanks. Pleasure to meet you too Natsu-"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?" She yelled, suddenly holding me by the collar.

Thankfully Monika stepped in.

"That's got to do with what I'm about to tell you. So you know how we lived in the States, attended school together, all that stuff?"

They all nod.

"Well… none of that… technically ever happened. We lived in a video game."

Sayori's eyes light up. "Mario Kart?" she exclaimed, clearly not completely up to speed on what's going on.

Yuri has been silent this whole time but suddenly giggles and says "No Sayori."

Sayori's face falls. "Aww…". She bites into her third burger with a look of dejection.

Monika continues.

"We were all inside of a game called Doki Doki Literature Club. Yes, after our literature club. This game was a… well, it was a psychological horror disguised as a cutesy visual novel."

Natsuki laughed. "How could our club be a psychological horror?"

Monika suddenly found the floor extremely interesting. "You see, unlike you three, I was sentient and able to make some changes to the game. But I also did not have a route, so my only link to any other sentient creature was forever beyond my grasp. I'm hoping that without a script here in the real world, you guys are now sentient too, but at the time? You were… obstacles. You were keeping me from the protagonist. And you were no more than 1s and 0s. I uh… I don't really know how to say this… But I… kind of killed each of you millions of times."

The girls blink at her in shock. Sayori backs away, almost spilling her drink onto her lap. Natsuki seems caught between terror and rage. Yuri is deep in thought.  
Yuri is the first to respond. "If you don't mind my asking… how did you kill us?"

Monika sighed. "No, no, you guys deserve to know. Sayori had some issues with depression in game. I increased them, in the hopes that she would feel unworthy of the protagonist, and would spend less time with him. Unfortunately, it didn't work… and in the end, her depression became so great that she hung herself."

Sayori blinks at her, with tear filled eyes. "You mean… you knew of the rainclouds, and had the power to change them… and you made them worse? You made me..."  
Monika nodded, tears tracking down her cheek. "It gets worse though. Sayori's was at least somewhat accidental. Increasing her depression was unacceptable, but I never meant for her to die from it. Yuri, meanwhile..."

Sayori left for the bathroom, tears in her eyes. She paused halfway, ran back for the snackpack, and muttered something about stress eating, before storming off again to the bathroom.

Yuri looked at Monika in morbid curiosity.

"Well, Yuri, I started off by making you… quite obsessive. I also revealed your arm to the character." She said, carefully avoiding telling Natsuki of Yuri's self-harm.

Yuri frowned and said, "Alright, so you wanted to make me repellent to the protagonist, but how does that lead to my death?"

"Well, due to your obsessive nature, you ended up telling me to kill myself. After that, I kind of stopped caring whether you lived or died. Immediately after confessing your love, regardless of whether or not the protagonist accepts your confession, you stab yourself 3 times, and bleed to death."  
Yuri went silent, and then left to join Sayori in the background.

Natsuki stood up and punched Monika as hard as she could in the nose. Monika immediately fell to the floor, hard. The employees rushed over and asked if she'd like to have Natsuki kicked out, but Monika said "No no, it's fine, things got out of hand for a second but all is well. Thanks for helping though!". She had somewhat of a nosebleed.

Natsuki gave Monika a dirty look. "So then, President of the surely soon to be disbanded literature club, how did I die?"

"You were accidental. I worsened your domestic situation-"

"In English please."

"I made your dad even meaner. But that didn't actually kill you. You sort of died from a weird glitch after Yuri's obsession made you miss out on spending time with the protagonist. I didn't even delete you after that, so you were still alive and well in the game until I deleted you painlessly at a later point. For what little it's worth, your death was the least horrible of the lot."

Natsuki went quiet, and then went off to the bathroom.

Monika shuffled over to me. "I… I hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me someday." she said, as I offered her a shoulder to cry on. After a few minutes of sobbing, she looks up. "Dominic, I'm sorry for depositing a swimming pool worth of water on your shoulder today. I can see Sayori peeking around the bathroom door… you should see if she wants to talk to you. I don't imagine she's ready to talk to me yet."

* * *

Author's note-  
Hey, hope you're all enjoying the story so far. Let me know how you're finding it so far! This is the first time I've ever uploaded a fanfiction, so any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.


	5. Retribution

Author's Note:

* * *

Hey! Thanks for reading the story thus far, hope you've been enjoying it! For someone new to this, it's really interesting to see the stats come rolling in on viewership, and it's really delightful to see the number of followers and favourites increase. Now onto the comments-

LumiRine: So are Frozen Cokes a New Zealand thing? I've never seen them in any McDonalds in the US.  
Yes, frozen cokes are a real product in New Zealand, and apparently they don't exist Stateside. They're the best thing on the McDonalds menu, and I can't imagine why the American branch doesn't have it. They cost 1 NZD (~0.70 USD), and they last for something like half an hour.

Penscribbler: The worst tho is you aren't wrong about the US  
First off, thanks for following. Second, I am generally a little harsh on America. I do hope it's clear that while those are genuine weakpoints for America where New Zealand is miles ahead (PATRIOTISM YEAH!), I don't actually dislike the States. Most of these comments are in jest.

* * *

Sayori does indeed seem to be gesturing for me to come over as I approach. She sits us down at a table and looks nervous.

"What are we going to do?" She asked.

"About what?"

"Monika. Look at how unhappy she is! She may have made some really mean choices in past, but she clearly feels sad about them, and I think she's definitely paid her revolution."

"Retribution."

"Yes, that. What are we gonna do to make her happy again?"

I can't believe it! She's already forgiven Monika. "I'm impressed at how quickly you've forgiven her! That's really big of you, you really are a kind, sweet… Why are you looking at me like that?"

She'd pulled out her puppy dog eyes again. "Ehehe, that's not the only reason I called you over here." She touched her index fingers together. "I kind of finished that snackpack, and I uh… Can I have some more?"

"Sir." I say, grinning. She looks at me blankly. "Oliver Twist? Can I have some more sir?" She continues to stare at me blankly. "Really? Dickens?" Her stare has never been blanker. "Come on, you're the vice president of a LITERATURE CLUB! How do you not… you know what, it's fine. What do you want?"

"Well the free refill machine is by Monika, so I'd like that refilled, and another Big Mac and a Frozen."

"Geez, do you have the metabolism of a Greek goddess or something? How are you so thin in the game with these eating habits?"

"Ehehe… I guess so. But do you have any ideas on how to cheer Monika up?"

"I'm guessing Natsuki and Yuri aren't with you on forgiving Monika, but if at least one of her friends were to return to her side, that would mean a lot to her."

"Y-You think so? Even me?"

"Especially you, Sayori. I played through the game, so I know you have a low opinion of yourself, but you're really a beacon of brightness and kindness to everyone you know. Don't let the rainclouds tell you otherwise. Speaking of which, even without Monika turning your depression up to 11, you should really see a therapist."

"Oh… it's kind of weird for me to think that so many people know about my deepest secret. But if you really think she'll appreciate my presence, I'll join her. You should join her too once you've got my food, she clearly thinks highly of you. Hang on... were you the one controlling my childhood friend? The… what did she call it, a proctologist? Pro baseballer? Protractor?"

"The protagonist. And… yes, I was. Well, "controlling" may not be the right term, aside from deciding who to talk to first and responding to your confession, I really couldn't do a lot. And my choices became even more superficial after your death."

"I… I don't know how to feel about the whole game thing yet. I mean I've just discovered I got killed countless times by one of my closest friends, and someone who I can remember as a dear friend since childhood didn't exist until the last few days of my life. And even then is someone who looks completely different."

"I'm sure it's a really weird scenario to find yourself in, but I'm also sure you'll adapt to it well. I mean here you are in another country, in a completely separate reality to your own, and you're already making plans to make your friends happier, and have asked someone who is virtually unknown to you for two separate McDonalds orders. You really know how to adapt in a new environment! I'd be huddled up in a fetal position somewhere in the government's basement in your shoes!"

Sayori blushes a bit, and rushes off to give Monika a bearhug. Monika's eyes light up, and her eyes well up with tears of gratitude. Do these guys just have bathtub sized tear ducts or something? How does she still have tears left to shed?

I place Sayori's second order and notice how horrifyingly light my wallet is getting. Oh God, I have to pay for 5 on the bus too. I'm going to run out of money very quickly at this rate. As my wallet accepts its new fate as a helium balloon, the order arrives. I carry it over, and Sayori nabs the lot of them.

"Thanks Dominic!" she mumbled through her burger.

Monika looked at me with surprising shyness. "Hey, ah, I was, well… I was wondering if we could possible to find lodging at your house?"

"Sure, I figured that was a given. I'm not going to ditch you out on the street to celebrate your first day in the real world. In fact, it's getting late, so once Sayori is do- HOW THE HELL ARE YOU ALREADY DONE?"

"Ehehe… I still have most of the frozen coke left."

"You can take that with you. We should really be off to the train station to catch some buses."

"Did I mishear you?" Monika says.

"Nope. We're catching a bus that goes by the train station. The trains are more expensive and are slightly further from our destination."

"But they're so much faster! At this hour we should be prioritising speed!"

"I mean it's slightly faste- Wait… Did DDLC's version of America have bullet trains?"

"Yes? Does the real America not?"

"That's a Japanese thing. Most countries, including NZ and America, do not have such fast trains. The bus is only slightly slower, and is much more convenient."

With that settled, Monika sends Sayori off to fetch Yuri and Natsuki, and we head off. I notice that Yuri and Natsuki stay a solid 10 paces behind Sayori, Monika, and myself, and once we get on the bus they go as a pair into a set of seats far from the three of us. Sayori seems oblivious to the implications, but Monika and I are all too aware of it.

It occurs to me that for sleeping arrangements, I really can't have Monika in the same room as either or them overnight, or someone is going to leave the room with fewer limbs. My place has 2 bedrooms and a couch. My bedroom has only a single bed, so Monika will get that one, Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri can use the Queen Sized bed in the other room, and I'll take the couch. With that settled, I notice that we've almost arrived. "Hey Sayori, let Yuri and Natsuki know that we're getting off next stop."

Sayori loudly repeats what I just said to the back of the bus. I'd intended for her to walk up and inform them but… I guess that works too, although other passengers are understandably not pleased. We get off the bus, and walk down a street. "Welcome to my humble abode! I was unfortunately not able to tidy up ahead of time for this, so be warned that it may be a bit messy." I say, as I pull out my keys.


	6. There's No Place Like Home

Authors Note-

* * *

Thanks Lazypika for the review! I know this user in real life, and really appreciate the advice (Alongside the follows and favourites, which are as always much appreciated).  
As their review is quite lengthy, I'll summarise- they liked it, but found three major weakpoints:  
1\. The characters believe each other way too quickly. The instance they pointed out was Dominic basically accepting that sentient AI exists in something like 20 seconds. They pointed out that I should've slowed it down a bit so the characters were more believable. They're probably right, but it's a little late to change the story so significantly now.  
2\. Dominic could be a lot more fleshed out- he kind of focuses purely on the DDLC characters. Which, I mean, that's what I'd do in that scenario, and Dominic is based... very heavily on myself. But I see your point. He lacks depth.  
3\. Giant boxes of text look ugly. I should do some reformatting- I was aware of that issue while writing it, but that finally convinced me to go back and fix it. I've already acted on point 3. (It also made me notice a major issue in Chapter 1 where for whatever reason ". co . nz" had been shortened to a random full stop. So I fixed that too. Via trial and error I found a poorly formatted version of it that worked.)

Best wishes to all you fine readers! Hope you enjoy the story! I will attempt to update this story often.

* * *

At this point, it's 10 PM, so it's probably time to prepare for bed. Seeing as I naturally lack much in the way of female pyjamas, they'll have to settle for either sleeping in their business attire, or wearing some of my clothes.

I open up the airing cupboard and say "You guys, grab whatever clothing in there you think will work for temporary PJs. There's a bathroom down the hall for you to change in".

They quickly raid my airing cupboard. Natsuki dons a shirt themed on Super Mario World, which I can already tell Yuri judges heavily, and a pair of black sweatpants.

Noticing Yuri's disapproval, she said "What? Sayori talking about Mario Kart earlier reminded me of fun days in my childhood. Don't judge.". Sighing, Yuri moved on to her own clothing.

None of the shirts fit Yuri, so she stuck with the shirt from her business attire, and grabs a pair of blue trousers.

Monika grabs a yellow shirt with a rubix cube optical illusion on it (It's apparently from the Big Bang Theory show, which I'm not a fan of, but the shirt was a gift and the optical illusion looks cool.). She donned some gray sweatpants too.

Sayori meanwhile just shoved her hand in and grabbed the fluffiest thing she could find, a large gray sweater. It was a little too big for me, and it was way too big for Sayori. She decided it was sufficiently oversized that she wouldn't need any of my trousers, the sweater almost reached her knees anyway. Once they're all changed, I lead them to their rooms.

"Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki, please come this way." I take them to a mostly plain room with a large bed in the middle of it. "If you can't fit, let me know, I think I have a sleeping bag lying around somewhere."

Then I turn to Monika. "Your room is just over here.". I open the door to my room. A single bed sits near the corner, while the walls are covered with a combination of nerd memorabilia, such as a Super Mario Galaxy poster, and academic achievements.

The bottoms of the walls are also lined with things I didn't really have a place for, and games. Thankfully I'd done the laundry yesterday, so I didn't have any clothing on the floor.

She looks around. "Nice room! I mean, I've never seen a real bedroom before, so I'd probably be easily impressed, but still. What are the academic awards for?"

"Mostly stuff I did when I was younger where they give certificates to anyone who came in the top 20% or so. I'm decent at academics, but they don't really give out certificates much in high school and basically never at Uni."

"Ah. Anything you did well in but didn't get an award for?"

"Well, I did take Calculus 2 years early, Physics, Chemistry, and Stats 1 year early, and I finished high school a year early."

"Oh. Damn. Good for you!"

"Aha, thanks. It was a terrible choice though, taking all those subjects early dragged down my grades a lot."

"Still, impressive. You should bring that up with Yuri at some stage. She really values academics, and I'm sure you'd get some major brownie points if she knew. You may have had the only more tryhard schedule than Yuri's I've ever encountered! Well, her schedule back in DDLC that is-" She suddenly froze.

"I suppose… I suppose we'll have to attend school in New Zealand now. We should discuss that tomorrow."

"Yes we should discuss that. Well, anyway, goodnight."

"Wait what? Where are you sleeping?"

"The couch."

"Well that won't do! I refuse to allow someone who had already been so generous to us to sleep on such a makeshift mattress while I sleep in the lap of luxury!"

"You seem to be severely overestimating my bed. And I don't intend to allow a guest to sleep on the couch, so if you don't mind-"

"But I do mind! I'd sooner rest on the floor than leave you stranded on the couch after what you've done."

"Fine then. If it's a choice between my guest sleeping on the couch and on the floor, I'd choose the couch anyday. Thank you for giving me my bed back."

I notice that she seems a tad disappointed. Wasn't this the outcome she had been campaigning for-

OH. Oh man I am socially oblivious. She wants us to share the bed. I walk closer slowly and say "Oh? You seem to want something else… Could it be possible you wanted us to share the bed?"

"N-No! Well um, not necessarily, I couldn't confirm or deny your suspicions..." She says in a panic.

By this stage I'm right up to her ear, and so have started whispering.

"That would be an unusual scenario, seeing how small the bed is. I mean, the only way we could possibly fit there would be if we were to be right up next to each other, our faces mere inches apart, holding each other close for the sake of compactness, feeling each others body heat, so close that we can feel each other breathing." By this point, Monika's eyes are looking off into the distance with a dreamy gaze, and drool is pooling up her mouth. Her knees seem to have become gelatin. It seems that I'd struck a chord.

I suddenly back off.

"Well, enjoy the couch! Goodnight Monika!"

Monika suddenly snaps back to reality, and a hurt expression briefly crosses her face, before she forces a smile on. "Oh… ahaha, that, you really had me fooled for a moment there. Well… goodnight I guess."

She started to trudge off. I hadn't anticipated that it would upset her that much. Come to think of it, no wonder she had seemed so enthralled- such a close connection to the one she had declared her love to in the real world would've been a dream in her position. I shouldn't have tried to make a joke with that. As such, I call out to her- "I'm sorry, I was teasing, Monika. If you'd like, you can join me here."

Monika immediately turns around and leaps into the bed. "Thanks! But at the same time, please never do that again.". She shuffles to the side to make room for me.

While I was mostly messing with her, I wasn't wrong about it being a tight squeeze. I got in, and turned the lights off (Yes in that order. Huzzah for practical home design.). We both turn onto our sides, and end up face to face. After a minute, Monika pulls me into a hug. I hesitantly join in a moment later. "Goodnight." She whispers.


	7. A Rude Awakening

Authors note-

I generally keep it pretty clean here, so I think I should inform you that this chapter really earns the T rating. Well... I've seen worse get away with a T rating, but this is really about as close to pushing the T rating as I am ever going to get. Mainly because I found the ideas funny. Consider yourself warned.  
Now as to feedback-  
And Monika is the lock right? ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡ )  
I'm a sinner

Sinner sinner chicken dinner. Actually, remembering the chapter I just wrote, I really cannot judge. Oh well.

Monika's perspective

* * *

Tense as he was in the situation, Dominic seemed to fall asleep reasonably quickly. He's been out for half an hour now.

I'd imagined a scene like this many times in past- after all, it's one of the few romantic scenes where knowing what their face looks like isn't technically necessary, and I'd only seen what he looks like for the first time earlier this evening.

I… may have borrowed a pen from Yuri while thinking about such a scene in past, if you catch my drift. Not literally obviously, that would be unhygienic and weird, I'm aiming for a euphemism- oh you either get it or you don't get it.

To have this fantasy realised… my heart is still hammering away. There is, however, one cause for concern…

With a sigh, I opened up a command prompt (I've set up the raspberry pi to let me "see" the command prompt, so I don't have to mentally envision it. Still can't believe that makeshift set up worked.).

I couldn't avoid it any longer… I went into the demographics of users, and selected a handful of traits that I knew apply to Dominic.

 _Understands the ethics involved in my decisions, check, adolescent male, check, does not possess lewd images of me, check._

The last two have a smaller overlap than I'd like to believe. I won't say the specific percentage, but my faith in humanity took a sizeable hit the first time I saw the specific number. In that group, only 60% of the population were attracted to girls at all, and an abysmal 8% would want their relationship with me to be more than just platonic. I don't think he's among that 8%. I'm really glad that he let me share his bed, it's a dream, but I'm pretty sure he's doing that for my sake. None of his other behaviour indicates attraction, although I'm reasonably confident he's straight.

Well… I'll just have to earn his love then! Write your way into his heart, and all that jazz! I close the command prompt.

Hmm. I ah… I don't actually know how to fall asleep. I'll just keep my eyes closed, and relax. I don't get how this is supposed to get people to fall asleep, this isn't working at all-

"Wake up Monika." I open my eyes to find some sunlight spilling into the room, and look over at his alarm clock

"Uh what? But I didn't fall asleep, how is it 7 AM?"

"Oh you had one of those nights! I recall once falling asleep in what I thought was a blink. I was quite alarmed to notice that 7 hours had passed!"

Huh. So I guess I did fall asleep after all. That's good. "I see. Do we need to be up yet? Or can we stay here for another hour or two?"

Dominic shrugged. "Sure, I guess there's no rush. I'll reset my alarm for 9."

He did so, and passed out. He must've been more tired than he seemed. I don't actually need the rest though, I'll just enjoy finally being here in the real world, with him.

2 hours pass while I lay there. I try to avoid overthinking things- I'm relaxing now, those concerns about education and obtaining citizenship and getting clothing and finances can wait.

After the 2 hours have passed, the alarm goes off. Dominic reaches over to turn off the alarm- but he was half asleep and not as close to it as he usually was, so instead he ended up accidentally grabbing my left boob.

He looked confused for half a second, then mortified. He leapt up out of bed.

"Geez Dominic, take a girl to dinner first!" I tease.

"I'd, I, I'm sorry about that, it was accidental…" he stuttered out, his face now a deeper red than Sayori's bow.

Wait why was that the example of a red thing I thought of first? Suddenly my mind catches up to what my peripheral vision spotted- Sayori was at the door to the bedroom.

"Turn off your alarm guys- wait why is Monika looking so smug and Dominic so embarrassed?".

As I turn it off, I say "Well my dear friend Mr Handsy over here may have made some misjudgements regarding where his alarm clock was… and managed to accidentally reach second base."

"That… That's a fair assessment of what happened." He said.

"How would you accidentally play baseball?" She queried.

Aww, it's cute that she still thinks that way.

"Second base in this context is a common turn of phrase for physical contact in a relationship beyond just kissing. In this case, while trying to turn off the alarm, he managed to accidentally grab my chest."

Sayori, now up to speed, burst out laughing.

"Wow Dominic, way to be a real life anime trope!" She then begins teasing with great enthusiasm.

"The goal is to turn the alarm off, not to turn Monika on!"

That one was actually surprisingly clever for her.

She promptly ruins it by chanting "Monika and Dominic, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

She suddenly realises something. "DOMONIKA OH MY GOD I SHIP IT!"

After a minute of teasing, Dominic realised a potential escape route.

"Hey Sayori, you hungry?"

"Yeah, as hungry as you are for a pawful of something… lawful... I… I'm not good at rhymes. At least I managed to come up with something other than awful, that would've just been mean."

"... O… Okay then… Should we go have some brunch then?"

Sayori nodded eagerly, all thoughts of mockery overthrown by thoughts of bacon, eggs, and toast.

I was not so oblivious to his attempts to change topics, but I still hadn't actually tasted real world food, let alone a brunch. My curiosity outweighs my desire to keep the joke alive, so we go down to the kitchen. Yuri was staring at the contents of Dominic's fridge, drooling slightly.

"Hey Yuri? You alright?"

"Gah! Ah, I'm, I'm fine. Just a little hungry is all. Wait… no, I'm not talking to you yet."

I sigh. "Understandable. Although we will need to have a group discussion later, for everyone's sake, to discuss some important things like finances. There, your options are to talk to me, or not be involved.".

She stiffens, and returns her attention to Dominic.

He promptly says "You guys can grab whatever you want. Although right now I'm going to be cooking up some brunch for us, so if you're prepared to wait for a half hour, I'll make you some."

Yuri nods eagerly.

"What about Natsuki..." he adds before noticing her looking slightly unwell with an open tub of icecream in front of her.

"I'm good thanks… But can you guys keep it down, I've got some sick brainfreeze right now."

Of course Natsuki didn't wait like Yuri. I should've expected that.

"Alright then, Monika, would you like yours to be meat-free?"

"Yep. Hey, I suppose now in the real world my choice to be vegetarian actually matters!" That's a nice thought. Ever since my epiphany, I'd struggled to justify my continued refusal to eat meat, but now, there is an actual carbon footprint to reduce!

Once he's asked everyone how many eggs they'd like, he began. Yuri and Natsuki were off in a far corner, naturally, so she walked over to Sayori, who was by the TV.

"Hey Dominic? What are all these machines?" Sayori asked.

"Mostly game consoles. Hey, you said you liked Mario Kart, right? I've got the latest one on the Switch. It's the gray one on the right, you remove the controller by- actually, hold on a minute."

Finding a break in his cooking, he rushed over, quickly pulled off the two sides of the system, and shoved them into some other hunk of plastic. It looked kind of like a controller… But more square shaped. He also grabbed out another, more recognisably shaped controller. He passed the normal looking controller to me. Using the other remote, he quickly turned on the system, and started up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, before passing it to Sayori.

Sayori starts up a Grand Prix on 100 cc. I never really played video games- I played them a couple times at Sayori's house when I was younger, but I'm a total noob. As such, I'm not surprised that I end up mostly losing, but it's good fun anyway. By the time we've finished, Dominic has finished the brunch, but seems to be hesitating.

''You good?" I ask.

"Uh… I just realised that the table is not big enough for 4. Guess some of us will have to sit elsewhere."

"Ah. I see.".

I grab my plate and head to the table. Sayori, still hyped up on nostalgia, brings her plate to the couch, and eats it between Mario Kart tracks.

Yuri seems deep in thought for a moment, her concentration breaking through her usual veil of nerves. She's almost adopting the pose of The Thinker.

Finally, she nods, and takes her plate to sit with me at the table.

"I-I can't fully forgive what you've done… but what makes death so upsetting is its permanence. And I'm still here. That's what matters. Besides, I ascribe to utilitarianism, and everything you did, heinous as it was, was logically appropriate. Don't expect my trust anytime soon though. But do expect my friendship. It will take time to heal the damage inflicted on our friendship, but I truly hope that with time our relationship can one day be- OOF."

I had pulled her into a giant hug at this stage. It had hurt so much to see her avoiding me... Yuri was a dear friend to me, and having her speak to me again was incredible.

After a bit of sniffling and her being quite uncomfortable with the prolonged physical contact, she said "Ah… Well, uh, our food is getting cold Monika..."

Right. I take my arms off her and she gasps for air, while I start on my brunch.

Dominic and Sayori were both looking at each other mouthing their excitement. Dominic quickly stops, noticing I'm no longer preoccupied. Natsuki, meanwhile, looks torn between her ice-cream illness fuelled desire to lie down and groan for a few hours, and a desire to get up and throttle Yuri for forgiving me. Geez, I hope I haven't made their relationship even more strained... they were always at each others throats...

Yuri wasn't wrong, the food had cooled somewhat, but that was incredibly secondary to how incredible it was to actually have taste buds. Real flavour after almost two decades of nothing but 1s and 0s is incredibly overwhelming. Sadly, the brunch is over all too soon... and it is time to discuss some far, far more important topics.

* * *

Authors note

Yeah I'll probably go back to more child-friendly chapters from here on out. Hope you guys liked it though. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a Yuri pen joke and embarrass Dominic immensely. At least I ended it on a family friendly bit of Mario Kart and brunching, plus forgiveness.


	8. A Dish Best Served Cold

Authors note-

Feedback time!  
Terrietont- Adorable and quite funny! I really hope there's more soon. It's nice to have these kinds of slice of life type DDLC reality fics. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it. I'm trying to update it fairly frequently- After I initially uploaded 4 at once at the start (I wrote up a tonne of them before I could be bothered to make a cover image.), I've been uploading one every 2 or 3 days. I'm not sure if I can that upload schedule up, but I'll try! I've already got Chapter 9 written, in reserve, and most of chapter 10. This chapter may deviate slightly from the normal slice of life from the last few chapters. Don't worry though, I've got a bunch of that coming soon in Chapter 9. And thanks for following the story!

* * *

"This is a catastrophe! How did this happen?" A gruff man in uniform cries out.

He is surrounded by charts, maps, and cluttered files spread throughout the compound, and a cluster of medals adorn his chest. He turns to face his audience, a group of 5 world leaders.

Specifically, the leaders of the nations in the Five Eyes Alliance. Seeing as how it had happened in her country, Ardern decided to respond.

"Somewhere, we've left a security breach. It's not just on our end, since the device itself was protected by the US government. Somewhere, somehow, we got lazy. We let them in."

"That's actually only a secondary concern. We've always intended to improve the security system for the device, maybe now we'll finally get around to it. You want to know what I am concerned about? 4 sentient human beings were what this hacker produced. How? Why? And how was one of them able to hack the power grid, and one of our walkie-talkies, without any technology? Or was that their hacker friend?"

"Sentient AI exists, surely it could just be that. I mean, if it were, this sentient quote on quote "human" would be able to upload all existing memories to a computer acting as their brain, and would also be able to use said computer to hack the power grid and walkie-talkies." Theresa May pointed out.

"Excellent point. It would also explain how they created a life form at all- our knowledge of the brain isn't that far along yet. There's only one problem with that theory. This technology is not exactly in the public domain. Only 4 people outside of this room ought to know of its existence. Not even past leaders of your nations like Obama know of it, we dispose of these memories in the name of international security- once you're out of office, we don't trust you with them. And unlike the device, the security on that is excellent, since otherwise we feared that the sentient AI could escape."

"Who? Alongside us 6, they're all suspects." Trudeau remarked.

"Well, there's 4 tech guys who monitor our sentient AI, in case it finally stops going GLaDos mode on us."

He broke his gruff facade for a second to give them a small grin, before realising none of them had played Portal.

"Oh… Right. Well, most of their names are classified. I can however disclose that one has an online persona named Daniel Salvato, where he messed with video games in his spare time. We actually had an investigation into him earlier as one of his games had a character who claimed to be sentient. However, it failed the Turing test, so I don't believe it is him, although he is nonetheless a suspect. While the other three's names are classified, believe me, we will be monitoring every suspect very closely."

The five leaders look around with great unease. They're used to intense scrutiny, but not for potential treason against a military and surveillance alliance who had an unknown amount of power and funding.

To be honest, while they obviously knew more than the colossal misinformation the public got, most of the details around the alliance were beyond their knowledge. Turns out there's a level of classified that POTUS isn't quite good enough for. How the alliance had an independent base, who was in charge of it, and how it was so well funded, were total mysteries… but as long as they got incredible new machines every once in a while, they were prepared to let it slide. Their citizens lives had been greatly improved, and if that meant allowing this organisation to shift from their control, so be it.

What had once been a simple alliance to keep allies informed was now so much more. And no one seemed to know how it had become so. Now though, as the targets of their investigation, their independent status and ability to do what they pleased were quite frightening.

"S-So what about the actual security breach then? The 4 girls? I don't particularly want them wandering around my country causing trouble." Ardern asked after an uncomfortable pause

"Oh? The four women? Leave that to us. Our men are quite adept at... taking care of unusual, unwanted persons."

Ardern suddenly looked quite alarmed.

"Taken care of? I, I don't particularly want them killed persay, I'd rather they were-"

"You thought we were going to kill them? God no! We are, first and foremost, men of science. What a waste killing them would be. They will be placed in captivity and experimented upon."

Somehow Ardern seems even less pleased with this, but knowing that her authority here was even less than for any of the other leaders, since her country was far and away the smallest, she decided to drop the issue.

"Meeting adjourned. You may each leave. Ah, except you Ardern."

The others glanced at her, before walking out. The door sealed shut behind them.

"Y-Yes sir? What did you want to discuss?"

"Now Ardern. Do you really expect us to believe that a random citizen managed to hack the US government, imitate you, and get a soldier escort off the premises? And as pathetic as your security is, you would've had access to the device 24/7. You would've been close to it at the time. No other suspect would. What do you think the odds are of one of the other suspects leaking this tech to the public, who decided to commit treason, as opposed to the odds of this being your doing?"

"Your suspicion is understandable, but I swear-"

"The odds of it not being you are negligible. Were I a betting man, I'd buy it being you at 99 cents. You're lucky my guards feel guilty about attacking a pregnant woman, or I'd have them assail you on your way out. But be warned. Once we've gathered the evidence you have doubtless left behind, may God have mercy on your soul. Dismissed."

Once Ardern had left the room, the man swivelled back to a computer. He looked at the monitor, and sighed.

"They can never know. If Ardern must be a scapegoat for this, so be it. I cannot let them find out, whatever the cost. But after all you've done to me, know that you'll soon wish you'd stayed in that void."

And with that, he opened up a command prompt.


	9. A Strategic Rendezvous

Dominic's perspective

Natsuki, evidently upset to be the final girl refusing to talk to Monika, seemed stuck between glaring at Yuri for betraying the cause, and Monika for making the cause a thing at all. We're all finally going to discuss some of the important details of our living arrangement.

Monika began. "Well, first things first, let's discuss expenditure. Dominic here is a college student. I imagine his savings will not survive much more of our needs. Thankfully, I can… how do I put this, improve our economic situation."

Sayori stared at her. "What?"

"Well, I can hack into anything really given enough time. I'm sure I could make us a lot of money. We'll need to launder it somehow, but-"

Yuri looks horrified. "We aren't thieves Monika! We've already incurred far too much attention from the local authorities."

"Look, we've got two ways of going about this. Let me fake up some numbers, or see what kind of jobs 4 attractive girls with no formally recognised education can get. I somehow doubt you would prefer the latter option, considering the job market for such a demographic."

Cheeks aflame, Yuri nods. "I… I see. You are correct, such opportunities would be… lacklustre. Desperate times call for desperate measures I guess."

"I'll also provide us all with fake identities. I'm considering doing this in combination with the laundering- I'll pretend to be some wealthy woman from Eastern Europe or something, and bring money in via her."

Sayori and Yuri both look pretty upset.

Sayori spoke up. "You're asking us to commit identity fraud and counterfeit. Is there really no better solution?"

"Afraid not. But thankfully, that's all we really need to discuss that's illegal. Oh, although we will need to be careful, I'm sure the NZ military is-"

She suddenly burst out laughing.

"Oh my God I almost treated the NZ military like a serious threat for a moment. I couldn't quite keep a straight face."

I sigh. "Do you have to make fun of my country's government?"

"Yes, yes I do. Besides, you've insulted your own military in past. Lamb mines ring a bell? Penguin paratroopers?"

"Yeah, in fairness, I did say that… Wait… I said that on Discord, how the hell did you know tha-"

"IN ANY CASE! No, our real enemy is the Five Eyes Alliance. I've done a little digging, and although their security is almost untouchable, it's clear that there is an extremely dangerous group somewhere in the Pacific that we've angered."

Natsuki huffed. "I don't seem to recall US angering them. That was you."

"Oh yes, I do apologise for bringing you into existence. Submit any "I didn't ask to be born" statements into our local complaints box. In any case, we need to keep a low profile, in an attempt to avoid them. Now we should discuss education."

Monika turned to me. "So what was your high school like?"

"Well, I went to St Pats. Which is a good school, but is also males only. And, in spite of what the internet seems to believe of Natsuki, none of you meet that specification."

Natsuki looked at me in horror. "D-Did I hear you correctly? Who the fuck has been spreading rumours about me?! Monika I swear to God if this was you-"

Monika quickly interjected. "No, that wasn't me. The internet made some observations about your reasonably broad shoulders and… underdeveloped female traits… and concluded you were what the internet calls a trap. A guy who dresses up as a woman, and does not inform potential sexual partners, preferring to "trap" them in a relationship with someone who does not have the desired sexual organs. Quite a transphobic term, really, I'm not a fan, but that's what they think you are."

"But I'm not!"

"Welcome to the internet. So in any case, if we can't attend your school, what schools can we attend?"

"I'll pull up a list and discuss them in a minute- first things first, I should explain the system to you. We work under NCEA. I think Monika will need to fake up equivalent documents from some other nation up to Level 2, but some 18 year olds are in Level 3, so that's where you'll go. Unless you guys feel ready for University?"

Yuri and Monika looked to be intrigued, but Sayori and Natsuki violently exclaimed "NO!".

I'll spare you the boring details of how some country most of my readers don't care about designates credits. Suffice to say, by the end of the discussion, Sayori and Natsuki had decided to attend St Mary's College (They weren't interested in the religious elements, but the Catholic schools in NZ are really good, almost private school level at a fraction of the cost.). Yuri and Monika, meanwhile, were excitedly discussing options for University. They had agreed to move the Literature Club meetings to the living room at my house, since they weren't attending the same school anymore. And after a minute of concentration, Monika had added a few digits to my bank account.

With all that mess sorted for now, we decided it was time to relax and do something fun.

"Mario Kart!" Sayori exclaimed happily.

"But you've already played that, don't you want to try something new-"

"MARIO KART!" Sayori shouted at my protests.

"Alright then… If you really want to, I'm not stopping you. But we aren't playing just Mon- Sorry, just Mario Kart. I've got a bunch of other games for you to play. Oh, and Netflix, if any of you are interested in watching anything."

Natsuki asked me for my Netflix and stormed off, to be alone.

The other girls and I play Mario Kart for an hour, followed by Monopoly (Which Monika absolutely dominated in), followed by dragging Sayori away from Mario Kart, followed by some Smash Bros. It had been great fun, and in my peripheral vision I can see Natsuki torn between rightful vengeance and the desire to join in. Sadly, the former wins.

Monika is looking at my PC now. "Hey, you know how you own Civ V?"

"Yes?"

"I've never been able to play a strategy game more complex than chess. Would it be possible for us to play a round?"

"That's going to take in excess of 5 hours. More if Sayori and/or Yuri want to join in."

"We do." Yuri adds.

"We do?" Sayori seems uncertain. "I mean, yeah, of course!"

Monika runs out to the kitchen and comes back with a tray of cupcakes.

"And that was the day I sold my soul for a cupcake." I say.

Monika clearly really likes the inside joke. She almost drops the tray laughing. Sayori laughs along nervously, clearly unsure what's going on. Yuri just shrinks away.

'Fine, fine, we'll play some Civ, but don't expect to finish today."

Yuri and Monka are fine tacticians.

My strategy basically boils down to "focus on science and gold and completely ignore the military until trebuchets".

But while my cities became incredibly powerful, their tactic was completely different. They both went heavily down the military route, and started taking out some of the NPC's civilizations. For a bit I was worried that Yuri was going to take me on (I have literally 0 soldiers) but luckily she was just moving past my civilization.

When I got trebuchets, I came up with a devious scheme. I feigned going off to grab a glass of water.

While out, I said "Hey Monika, I think you broke something while grabbing those cupcakes earlier."

She ran out

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing I want to quietly discuss tactics. Yuri's currently in the lead, but she's overextended herself between our two empires. Most of her military is in this overextension, fighting Denmark. What if we cut them off from her main empire, and start taking on her defenceless main cities?"

"A dark scheme. I like it."

Yuri was horrified to suddenly find her seemingly all-powerful Empire under great threat. Her military immediately decided to attack Monika.

She made some progress, but in the meantime Monika and I were decimating the rest of her Empire. She finally agreed to a peace offering, but was left a distant third in points. She was barely ahead of the games AI players.

Thanks to the fact that Yuri was attacking Monika throughout and not me, I'd made the greatest gains- I had an empire comparable in size to Monika's, but with far greater science. It took 200 turns, but I've finally got a commendable lead- WAIT 200 TURNS?

I check the time. 7:20. Probably about time to get some dinner

"Well, it's been a good fun game of Civ, but looking at the time, we'll have to finish it later. I'll go out and grab us some pizza. Sorry for the junk food heavy diet, I'll get some groceries tomorrow."

Just before I leave, the doorbell rings. Huh. I hope it's not one of those guys who keeps trying to convince everyone that his specific version of Jesus is the answer. Those door to door religious solicitors are obnoxious.

I open the door and see someone far too formal and well dressed to be who I feared.

"Hello?"

"Hello… Dominic, is it? We're currently searching for four girls. One has pink hair, one has purple hair, two brunettes. Have you seen them?"

"... N-No siree, haven't encountered them!"

I was never any good at hiding my nerves, and the sudden torrential downpour of sweat from my forehead clearly raised suspicion.

"Mind if I come in?"


	10. Happy Hour

Monika's perspective

"Everyone, get in the guest room. Now." I whisper.

I can just see a federal agent outside. I'll be surprised if Dominic can keep him outside for any more than 30 seconds. We need to rush.

"What're we gunna do?" Sayori whimpers.

"I… I have a plan. Does anyone have anything we could colour our hair with?"

"I don't think this is the time to have a makeover. Ehehe."

"They won't have any images of us, I made sure of that. They'll be looking for basic descriptions. At least one of us- preferably Yuri or Natsuki, brown hair is relatively common- needs to change hair colour."

"W-Well it's not ideal, but I bought some black nail polish..." Yuri noted.

"Really? When? And with what money? Oh whatever, it'll do the trick. Natsuki, you have the least hair to dye, so maybe it'll be enough. If not, it'll look like a streak of pink."

"WH-" She begins to shout before catching herself.

"I'm not a goth. I'm keeping my hair pink. Besides, nail polish smells awfu-"

While she protested, I'd grabbed the nail polish, and put some on her hair.

"H-Hey! That's not fair!"

"Yeah it's not. Neither is life. You want to have a random black splash in your hair, or would you like me to finish the job"

"F-Fine, I guess."

I hastily dab her hair with it. In the end, you can barely tell it was originally pink. It wouldn't hold up under close scrutiny, but it would have to do.

Suddenly Yuri realises- "Wait… How is he supposed to get away with having four random women in his house?"

Oh dear. I'd hoped this phase of the plan wouldn't need explaining.

"Everyone go into this closet."

They nervously comply.

"Sorry about this."

"Wait wha-" the three girls say simultaneously, only to find their bodies collapsing underneath them.

Monika pulled open her command prompt.

Yuri. chr, Natsuki. chr, and Sayori. chr immobilised successfully.

Excellent. As they were still in Raspberry Pi's, she could disable their nerve connections to their minds temporarily. They were still alive and well, but they had no control over their bodies.

Enact program "Wakey_Wakey_Eggs_and_Bakey" if {voice detection activated term "I'm a goofy goober yeah"}.  
Enacted.

I quickly wrote down the words "Say I'm a goofy goober yeah" on a note.

Immobilise Monika. chr

Disabling User is not advised. Are you sure? Y/N

Y

Immediately, I join them in a heap on the floor of his closet.

Dominic's perspective.

Geez, this guy clearly knows they're here. I've managed to delay his searching the place for a few minutes, but he's now quite insistent on checking out the rooms.

As he's searching for quite a large target, he gets through the rooms very quickly. There's only a handful of hiding places large enough for an adult to be hiding away after all. He checks the kitchen, then the living room, then my room, and finally he moves onto the guest bedroom. He checks under the bed. Nothing. He opens up the closet… and the four girls spill out.

He quickly pulls out a gun, before noticing all of them aren't moving.

"Oh… Fucking weeb. Get a real girlfriend, sicko."

Really Monika? This is what you decided would be a good decision? Great, now the government will think I'm in possession of 4 adult female anime-esque life-sized dolls. There is no good reason for that to be the case. At least she had the sense to dye Natsuki's hair so they didn't meet his description, although it smells foul.

He kicks Sayori's head to test for a response. Oof, that was a hard hit, but without autoimmune responses, she doesn't even flinch. Still, that's going to hurt once Monika gets them moving again.

Sufficiently satisfied that they weren't real, he went around the rest of the house. He's clearly frustrated to find his sudden lead hadn't developed into anything major.

"Well then. I guess you're in the clear after all. Sorry for taking up so much of your time."

He stormed out in a foul mood. As soon as I hear the front door slam shut, I run to the guest bedroom.

"Okay, he's out. Please give everyone their mobility back Monika."

I count out 20 seconds. Nothing happens.

Right. Clearly she is not capable of doing so at this time, so she'll doubtless have set up some way for me to externally activate them remotely.

"I don't really know how to activate you guys again. I mean she would've left some kind of a hint, but it might take a while guys. I'm no Holmes."

Wait no she didn't have time to make this a mystery! She probably shoved it into a pocket or something!

"Unless it's actually elementary dear Watson! As someone with "more important things to do", Monika probably left the hint somewhere very accessible. Like perhaps her pockets? And you would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling ki-"

I stop my horrible combination of Sherlock Holmes and Scooby Doo once I find it's not actually in her pockets.

"Huh. I really thought that's where they would be."

I look her up and down, and notice she seemed to have a sheet tucked away in her chest.

"Really Monika? Seriously?"

If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I saw her smirk at me for a moment. She really seemed to enjoy making me feel as uncomfortable as possible. Suddenly, an idea strikes.

"Hope you've got a strong stomach!"

I grab her, and shake her upside down. I'm not sure how much of this she's aware of-

Monika's perspective.

AH GOD THIS DID NOT GO ACCORDING TO PLAN I FEEL LIKE VOMITING BUT I DON'T HAVE THE PHYSICAL CAPACITY TO DO SO PLEASE LET IT STOP

Dominic's perspective

Oh good the paper is out. I lay her down. "Sorry about that. I mean it is indirectly your fault, but at least we know how to get you guys back up and running."  
I read the note

"... God dammit Monika. Really? Fine, whatever."

"I'm a goofy goober yeah."

Suddenly they unfreeze.

"You're a goofy goober yeah, we're all- wait why'd you stop?" Sayori said, before suddenly remembering her head injury. She brought a hand up to it and yelped in pain.

"Ah ah that was a mistake can someone grab me apple juice?"

"You know, this isn't DDLC, we have access to actual bandages and ice packs and-"

"Huh? Oh yeah I suppose I did use apple juice last time I hurt my head. I didn't even remember. I just wanted apple juice. Ehehe."

"It can wait. How are the rest of you?"

Monika looked very dizzy, and had a stupid grin on her face.

"Dominic, I didn't know you have a twin. You have such similar mannerisms, it's impressive."

She turned around. "Yuri? You too? You definitely don't have a twin… Am I seeing double?"

"Yeah you'd better lie down for a minute Monika." Sayori said, quite concerned.

But as soon as she'd laid Monika down, Natsuki angrily pulled her up.

"WHAT WAS THAT MONIKA? First you dye my hair black, then you paralyse us, so that we look like some perverts friggin happy hour!"

Yuri stepped in nervously. "Ah, that's not what happy hour is, that's with regards to the workweek and alcohol-"

"I want you to sit in the corner, and spend the rest of your life calculating for me exactly how few shits I give."

"T-That's fair."

I'm disturbed to notice that Monika's eyes don't seem to be looking in the same direction.

"Happy hour? Was I drinking? I'm not as think as you drunk I am, I can look after myself, it's fine. I'll just delete the bad effects. Oops, I should let you know, I can delete things because reality isn't real. Shush shush though, if anyone asks I never told you that, it's our little secret, ahaha. Ah, I should really stop telling that to people when I get drunk. It's not good to have 6 people, and now you going around knowing that."

"WHEN you get drunk?" the three exclaim in horror.

Ignoring them, Monika continued her rant. Jesus, shaking her did more damage than I thought.

"Wait, wait no, we're not in that reality anymore are we. I gave us bodies. That's right. Come to think of it, I don't think our brains are physically capable of getting drunk. I could probably emulate it though. You girls up for a good time?"

Yuri looks appalled. "That's illegal! Well, they don't have specific laws covering the digital addition of lost sobriety to a person's mind, but somehow I suspect they'd frown on us drinking! We've broken enough laws as is!"

I interject. "Actually… You're not in the States anymore, so it is technically legal. You're 18 so you're old enough to buy it, and even if you weren't, there is no legal minimum for actually drinking alcoholic beverages."

"Really? You're that lax on alcohol?"

"Yuri, New Zealand is the only country on Earth where making moonshine is completely legal."

"I'm not hearing a no..." Monika said.

"No no no no no no" Sayori shouted. Natsuki was grinning madly- she thought it would be another three years! Yuri looks like she wants to join Sayori in objecting, but is sufficiently nervous that she barely mutters a single "no."

This has gone on long enough. "Monika, that's a really bad idea-"

Suddenly, she randomly tapped the air, and all the girls suddenly experienced what it was like to have 5 pints in them. She did not go easy on them for their first time.

Sayori stumbled towards me. "Hey there (hic) Dominic. I just (hic) noticed your (hic) eyes."

"What of them?"

"They're (hic) blue. What a (hic) coincidence, so are (hic) mine! What're the (hic) odds?"

"... Not low. Also you haven't actually drunk anything, why are you hiccuping so much?"

Monika started whistling and looking away.

I stare at her incredulously, but Sayori drags my attention back towards her.

"Hey Dominic Imma tell you a (hic) secret."

"You're not sober, now is probably not the time."

"Back when we (hic) were all kids, I (hic) found out that the universe (hic) was fake"

Monika suddenly got up. "WHAT? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

"Ehehe (hic) shush it's a secret."

Monika quickly pressed the air a few times, and Sayori looked confused. She was no longer hiccuping.

"Wh-What happened? Did you make me drunk?"

"Yes. Now Sayori, while drunk, you mentioned something about knowing DDLC was fake back when we were all kids. What was that?"

"Oh… I meant to keep that secret. I don't know how that Truman Show wannabe kept you fooled for so long. Remember that time for a bit where I said "Press A to continue"? That was a bug. Kind of made it really obvious for me. You just assumed it was a stupid joke and went along with it."

"You know I can vaguely remember that now. So… how did you respond to knowing reality was a lie?"

"I decided to try to fly. Turns out fall damage was a thing. I ended up in hospital for 4 weeks, then moved on."

"..."

"Hey! It beats what you decided to do with that knowledge! Besides, unlike you, I couldn't figure out how to control the game. I still have no clue how you managed to summon a command prompt."

"... You know what, fair enough. Say, where did Yuri and Natsuki go?"

Oh dear. While Sayori had my attention, it seemed Yuri and Natsuki had left.

"Did you only stop Sayori being drunk?"

"... I plead the 5th?"

"Return the others to sobriety please."

I leave to go look for them. The front door is still closed, so thankfully they probably haven't left the premises (Based on how drunk Sayori behaved, I doubt they'd remember to close a door behind them while hammered.)

I check my room- nothing. The bathroom- nothing. I run down to the kitchen and finally find the two of them. Not a moment too soon. Yuri is holding a knife up to Natsuki's throat.


	11. Alliterative Aliases

Authors Note:  
Yeah I haven't left one of these since… Chapter 7 I believe? It is beginning to get really difficult to keep uploading every three days, so the upload schedule may slow down a little. If it does take a little longer to get these out, I apologise.  
AydenK: Well, hindsight being 20/20… That was probably not a good idea.  
First off, thanks for following, secondly… Yeah, making them all drunk was a terrible decision. So typical of her. Fucking Monikammmmmmmmmmm

Uh… Where was I? Well, in any case, feel free to send in any more reviews everyone. I've never written fanfiction before, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

* * *

"WHAT THE- Yuri drop that right now!"

She ignores me, and continues to glare at Natsuki.

"Say manga is literature one more time. I dare you."

"Manga isn't literature..."

Yuri relaxes her position for a second.

"... If you consider writing on the tier of the Odyssey, Brave New World, and Horton Hears a Who to not be literature. In that universe, manga isn't literature."

"W-WHAT? I'm not sure which is more wrong- putting manga on the tier of those great cornerstones of literature, or using Horton Hears a Who as an example of a cornerstone of great literature!"

Suddenly they both look confused.

"Y-Yuri? Why are you h-holding a knife to my throat?"

"Ah, I, well that would be, uh… I… can't remember."

Monika runs downstairs.

"Ha, yeah, sorry it took so long. I ship Natsuri so I hope that's what was going on down here-"

She suddenly noticed Yuri holding a knife to Natsuki's throat.

"I'm getting the sense that's not what happened. Note to self- fix that drunk module. Well, that was an experience."

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Yeah, way to go Monika. Also Yuri seriously put that knife away."

Natsuki frowned for a second. "And the pen."

Yuri checks her pockets, and sure enough, she finds a random pen.

"W-What? We forgot every single element of our drinking escapade, but for some reason my grabbing a pen is something you recall?"

"I don't know why but some part of me deep down really really doesn't want you around pens."

"... Look, I know you don't like the way I write my poems, but that's just mean-"

"No that's not it. I mean it helps..."

"Hey!"

"... but it's not my main reason. For some reason, I get a bad vibe from the idea of you and pens."

Monika is barely keeping a straight face.

"I think you mean you get a bad vibe-rator from the idea of Yuri and pens." She says before bursting into hysterics.

A bewildered Natsuki looks at me in confusion.

"One, ew, two, am I missing something here?"

"Yes, and unless you feel like playing through DDLC, you will continue to miss it. It's a reference."

"You know actually I should play through DDLC. I mean it's the only video game with the perfect character in it!"

"Yeah, Sayori's really something isn't she?"

Monika suddenly gives me a glare carrying the weight of all past mass-extinction events. I am going to pay for that later… Worth it to annoy Natsuki without calling the one she hates perfect.

"What? NO YOU DUMMY! I'M TALKING ABOUT YOURS TRULY! The Tsundere Triumph! The Baking Brilliance! The Pink… Paleontologist."

"Sorry what?"

"YOU TRY TO COME UP WITH THREE ALLITERATIVE TITLES IN QUICK SUCCESSION!"

"But tsundere starts with an "s" sound, so unless you're writing it down, it's not really alliteration per se."

"The stupendous tsundere, okay? Friggin nerd."

Yuri gazes off into space. "The Petite Peculiarity. The underdeveloped usurper. The bratty baker. The cutest character."

"HEY! I'M NOT CUTE. Also why are all of your alliterative titles so mean? An underdeveloped. bratty peculiarity?"

"I, I said those aloud? Oh I, uh, I'm sorry Natsuki."

"Spare me your crocodile tears."

"But I'm not crying. I mean, at least that one is CLOSE, unlike your happy hour thing, but-"

"SHUT UP! You think you're so much better than me, just because you know more fancy literature, and your vocabulary is larger, and you've got better grades, and a bustier figure… Wait what point was I trying to make?"

"You have an inferiority complex?" Monika proposed.

"No that wasn't it. Ah that's right, Yuri, you think you're so much better than me. Go on, admit it."

"... While I do agree that I'm perhaps a little more aware of some of the finer things, and my lexicon is a tad more voluminous, I don't think I'm better than you. Quite the opposite. When I meet a new person, I cower in the corners. I'm lucky to be able to spit out some vague semblance of my name, before retracting into my book. You know what you do when you meet a new person? You run up, and are immediately willing to berate them, as though you've known them for long enough to get away with such brashness. I envy you that Natsuki. If I could trade all those superficial traits, the appearance of grandeur, for what you have, I would in a heartbeat."

Natsuki looks torn. On the one hand, that was an incredible compliment. On the other hand, she could never let Yuri KNOW that.

"That was… well, um, it was-"

Yuri pulled Natsuki into a hug. Natsuki was stiff for a moment, but eventually leaned into the hug too.

I check my watch. Oof, 8 PM. I was already a tad late for grabbing pizzas back after the Civ game, and now it was going to be even later. I ask Monika to set up a Discord server, so they can communicate with me while I'm outside the house.

As I walk over, I feel my shoulders relax. It's been great meeting the girls and spending time with them, but I am heavily introverted, and it was very draining to have so much contact with 4 people at once for a prolonged period of time. I hear my phone ping- that'll be an invite to the server Monika's set up. For someone who can hack into matters of national security in minutes, that took a surprisingly long time, but at least it's up and running now.

AdJustMonika: Hey!

NaturallySuki: Huh. Is this all it is? Why did this take you so long Monika?

SayorryAboutThat: WOAH WE CAN TALK WITHOUT TALKING?

NaturallySuki: … Have you never texted before?

SayorryAboutThat: What's texting?

StabbyMcStabbers: Really Monika? Really? Everyone else gets a name pun, and you give me… forget it.

AdJustMonika: You can change your name if you want. And you try coming up with a Yuri pun! I tried "YuRillyDroppedTheBallOnThatOne" but it just looked silly.

NaturallySuki: Wow no kidding that name is awful. What an abysmal pun attempt. Hey, you actually really dropped the ball on that one! Ha, I finally get irony!

StabbyMcStabbers: Someone correctly using the word irony? Am I dreaming?

AdJustMonika: You foolishly insult one with ADMIN PRIVILEGES! Face your punishment!

TinyTrapAlert: THAT'S NOT FUNNY MONIKA! Change my name back! I thought we were done with alliterative titles!

StabbyMcStabbers: The sweet simpleton. The loveable loli. The angry assailant

TinyTrapAlert: GOD DAMMIT YURI- Be right back I'm gonna smack her up irl for this one.

JustInTheDominicOfTime: Come on Monika.

AdJustMonika: Fine, party poopers. Hey, feel like some truth or dare?

SayorryAboutThat: I'd rather not.

StabbyMcStabbers: I'd sooner die.

NaturallySucky: Absolutely not, and it's Suki, not Sucky. Change my name back for real.

Spin The (Bot) joined the server. Hide your bananas!

AdJustMonika: !Spin

Spin The (Bot): StabbyMcStabbers

StabbyMcStabbers: But none of us want to…

AdJustMonika: Truth or dare?

StabbyMcStabbers: No. Maybe in person, but it seems impractical to do so this way.

AdJustMonika: Actually yeah you're right. Hurry up with the pizzas Dominic!

About 30 minutes later, I am actually back with the pizzas. I silently congratulate myself on not having been even later due to spending 3 or 4 minutes practicing my lines for what to say to the people at Dominos, which is what I usually do (I'm comfortable talking with friends, and once the conversation has already started I relax, but I find the idea of starting an interaction very stressful.)

"I'm back guys! Pizza!"

Sayori seemingly teleported to the door as soon as the word pizza was spoken- I have no idea where she came from.

Monika and Yuri come down the stair from the bedrooms- I note that Yuri's face looks a little worse for wear. I guess Natsuki wasn't kidding about her response to the alliterative aliases- Oh my God yes I have got to call them that from now on I love that phrase so much.

Speaking of Natsuki, she seems to be peeking around a corner nervously. I guess she was used to her father getting mad at her for the audacity of wanting to eat some of his food. Of course, as soon as she notices my gaze she comes out confidently, her prior anxiety gone.

I place the pizzas on the table. I'm not sure what types they like, so I grabbed a few different types. Obviously a vegetarian one for Monika, and then 6 other random flavours so they could find out what flavours they like. I felt silly ordering 7 pizzas until I remembered how Sayori was yesterday… Maybe we won't have much in the way of leftovers after all.

We grab plates, some slices, and sit on the floor.

Everyone has finished at least one slice before the conversation starts.

"Pizza is really good!" Natsuki exclaimed, half a slice in her mouth.

Monika nods in approval. Yuri seems to be torn between chastising Natsuki for speaking with a full mouth and agreeing on the pizza statement. Sayori refuses to stop eating long enough to comment, but she gives Natsuki an approving look, which is close enough.

Suddenly Monika looks at her. "Wait… Natsuki, have you never had pizza before?"

Raising an eyebrow, she added "No duh. You know my dad would never let me. It's really not a big deal- Monika?"

Monika looked to be on the verge of tears. "I… I know this is a weird thing to push me over the edge, b-but for some reason that really gets me more than any of the other things about your dad. Even before my epiphany, as early as 10, I'd suspected something was amiss with your home life. I knew your dad wasn't looking after you properly for 8 years, and I… I did nothing."

"Look, I'm sure this is some big ol' emotional breakthrough for you, but it's literally just pizza, you really don't have to-"

"No, it's more than pizza. It's the childhood you missed. The years I saw you coming in hungry and did nothing. The years I thought I saw bruises, and did nothing. The years I didn't even give you a shoulder to cry on. I regret many things from that twisted hellhole, but of all my acts, my negligence for you is the most unforgivable. I don't even have the excuse that I thought you were only 1s and 0s…"

"Goddammit… It's pepperoni Monika. How the hell did you have an epiphany over pizza?"

"But-"

"I… Look, I'm only saying this now because you being a crying mess is irritating me and… oh, I'll drop the act, I'm sick of being some stupid tsundere trope. Look, Monika, I didn't want to tell you this earlier because I try to seem distant and tough, but I've long ago forgiven you for everything. And could you have been a better friend? Absolutely! But what's important is that you were my friend at all. No one else was even willing to give me the time of day. I'm somewhat to blame for that… I repelled people. It didn't help that some of the people I repelled spread rumours about me. But you? You didn't give up when I pushed you away. I'm sure for someone as popular as you, focusing your attention on me cost you a lot socially. You finally made school a home away from home, at a time when I needed that more than ever. So don't you ever blame yourself for not doing more… dummy."

She gets flustered, seeing the four of us staring at her, mouths agape

"S-So what should we do tomorrow? Or do you just intend to remain gawking there for the rest of time?"

A spark of gratitude is visible in Monika's eyes, but she knows Natsuki well enough to know to drop it.

"I suppose we should get some new clothes. Hey, come to think of it, after that we could resume the literature club! Do you girls still want to make poems?"

The three nodded.

"Now Dominic, I know you've had absolutely no experience writing poems-"

Sayori objects. "The protractor made tonnes of poems!"

"Protagonist, and those were 20 random unconnected words. One version of me replaced his poem with a grocery list, and none of you noticed. The point is, he didn't write a single poem in our time in the literature club. So… Do you still want to join, now that not doing so is an actual option?"

"S-Sure! Expect a terrible poem tomorrow!"

"Excellent! Don't worry, we'll respect your effort!"

Aww, that's kind of her!

Natsuki murmurs "No matter how pathetic the outcome is."

Well then.

We resume our dinner. What little conversation we have is terse, and peters out quickly.

Once done, we head off to bed. I consider asking Monika to sleep alone this time, because the constant contact is slowly killing me, but upon seeing the happiness in her eyes, I can't bring myself to do it. I head to bed, and fall asleep almost immediately.

* * *

FEA INTEL REPORT:

(CLASSIFICATION LEVEL 8. BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY IS IN VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. PAST TRANSGRESSORS HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION AND EXTREME TORTURE. YOU WILL BE PUNISHED TO THE SEVEREST EXTENT OF THE LAW.)

[Mission Report: 4 abnormalities detected in the Ohariu electorate. Specific location within said electorate as of yet unknown. Local authorities have searched the area and incorrectly believe they are not there. Sending in extraction force ASAP.]

""""""" """"""""""""""""""""""""  
""""""/"""""""""""""""""""""""" \\_  
"""/"""""""""""/""" ***** \"""""""""""" \\_  
"""\\_""""""""""\ ***** """/"""""""""""_/  
""""" \"""""""""""""""""""""""""/

Long live the Five Eyes Alliance. The Big Brother society needs.


	12. Poetic Licence

Authors Note:  
Yeah in retrospect I'm glad I warned that the 3 day schedule isn't sustainable when I did. Due to a combination of being extremely tired for no apparent reason lately, no reserve chapters, and several of my subjects in school moving to topics I struggle in, I found writing for this to be very arduous. My brain was starting to become mush towards the end of writing Chapter 11, and it hasn't recovered since. It didn't help that for the club meeting I had to make up several poems. Sayori's in particular took ages of contemplation before I eventually decided to go for a joke instead of an… actually good poem... Somewhat surprisingly, Yuri's was the easiest actual poem to make. That said, when it became clear that reaching the self enforced deadline was not realistic, I decided to relax and write a few chapter in advance. Hopefully this means that after this recent short hiatus, I can avoid any long gaps.

* * *

Nothing like a good club meeting to cheer Monika up.

"Alright everybody, time for a club meeting! It's been way, way too long!"

"Geez, I wonder what could've caused that long gap." Natsuki mumbled sarcastically.

Ignoring her, Monika continued.

"We've all written up poems, so time to share them with the group!"

I walk up to Monika and hand her my poem. After reading through it, she beamed at me.

"Excellent poem!"

"Th-Thank you Monika!"

"Yeah, that's really some of T. S. Eliot's best work!"

Dammit. She's caught me.

"You can't fault me for trying. I did write an actual poem, so here you go."

 _A House of Cards_

 _I place the cards, carefully building up higher._  
 _As I reach_ a 6th _level, I daren't even respire._  
 _Sometimes, people will stop and admire_  
 _The grandeur of this card based spire._

 _As it grows, I feel the structure groaning_  
 _A king of spades, I keep dethroning._  
 _I'm driven onwards by mad ambition_  
 _To continue_ in _this fruitless mission_

 _Empirical evidence said I was doing well_  
 _So I continued in this endless Hell._  
 _I have gained a successful facade_  
 _But beneath it all, I feel a fraud_

 _Inevitably, finally, I hear the collapse of a wall._  
 _The higher you climb, the further you fall._

Monika looked up at me.  
"Wow. I expected far worse."

"Gee, thanks."

"Oh… I didn't mean it that way, it's just, wow, you really exceeded my expectations! I mean in fairness all I knew of your writing prowess was the 20 random words you put into the MC's poems… But that felt quite meaningful. You do force a lot of rhymes, but otherwise, I like it!"

"Thanks Monika!"

"Well then, here, take your poem back, and read mine."

 _Press A to continue._

 _Life is an every proceeding march,_  
 _Composed of countless magical moments,_  
 _Intertwining til our dying day._  
 _Some of these moments bring us fantastic joy._  
 _Others, sorrow just as deep._  
 _The beat of life, it carries on._

 _But what if I told you could stop said beat?_  
 _Pause the march, enjoy one moment forever._  
 _A passionate kiss,_  
 _Or the birth of your child,_  
 _Or your proudest moment,_  
 _The highlight of your life._

 _Would you stop it?_  
 _Trade in the beautiful highs and lows for eternal bliss?_  
 _Surely not, for as great as such moments are_  
 _Life with progress is better by far._  
 _So I always press A, and in doing so, press forward._

"What do you think? It's kind of hard to write without my main fourth wall gimmick, so it may not match my usual standards, but… I hope you liked it."

I finish reading, and spout approval. It was a bit worse than I'd anticipated, feeling less like her in game poems and more like something I'd expect to read from a fanfic writer who clearly had never written a poem before in his life.

 **Authors note: Well fuck you too Dominic. Although yes I have never written poems before which made this chapter quite difficult.**

But it was still an excellent poem.

 **Better.**

I move on to Natsuki. She reads my poem, and says "Oh you like card games too?"

… Okay I'm not going to explain this poem to her.

"Sure Natsuki. Let's see your poem!"

 _Hey Dominic. I know I've done this before, but I still have no idea how else to bring this up, so here goes nothing. I'm really, really worried that some of our… worse traits in game have followed us to the real world. I noticed it first with Sayori- her pillow was wet with tears one morning. Later, I found bloodied bandages hidden within your trash (Don't ask why I was checking through your bin). This is really embarrassing, but I do care deeply about Sayori and Yuri, and to think they're suffering right now… I just don't know what I could do to fix the situation. So please help Dominic, I'm counting on you. Oh, and to avoid suspicion, well, just act impressed with my poem. I don't want Monika knowing about this… if she begins to believe we're still slaves to the script, she could be quite dangerous.  
_  
Damn. I should've been checking for such signs- if their worse traits have carried over, I need to be really careful. Although at the same time, man, this instead of a regular poem really feels a lot like a fanfic writer copping out on one of the poems.

 **SHUT YOUR MOUTH I CAN END YOU WITH A THOUGHT!**

I congratulate her on her "great poem" and move onto Yuri.

She seems to immediately get my poem. She comments on a few ways I could improve it, but says, overall, excellent for a newbie. Of course, I take this with a grain of salt from someone who said the same about 20 random words. But still.

"So can I read your poem now?"

"O-Of course Dominic! Here you go!"

 _Deer in the Headlights_

 _In the soft golden moonlight,_  
 _I raise my head, and marvel,_  
 _At the beauty formed by the wondrous chaos,_  
 _Created by the plates of Mother Earth._  
 _At the glorious scene around me,_  
 _I cannot stay still._  
 _A primal urge compels me  
_ _I dance beneath the stars.  
_ _Exuberant, I leap around,  
_ _Delighting in the beauty, surrounding and within.  
_ _Suddenly, I hear a loud honk,  
_ _Two new stars, brash and unloving.  
_ _Here with me on the surface for once.  
_ _Ever nearer, the stars malevolence is clear.  
_ _I prance at once, but  
_ _Alas, the car prances faster._

Yuri's mind for literacy was truly unrivalled…

"S-So what do you think Dominic?"

"Excellent poem Yuri! Well written, as always."

"I… I'm sorry to ask, but the MC always seems entirely clueless as to the meaning of my poems, so… what do you think this is about?"

"First off, fair enough, how he didn't understand at least your first poem is a mystery, the meaning was not subtle. As to the key motif? I'm guessing your social anxiety- your desire to move freely and experience bliss in the world, to express yourself, being interfered with by sudden bursts of outside attention."

"... You're a lot better at this than MC ever was. I'm glad you understand the meaning of my poems… but..."

She pauses.

"More importantly I've endowed it with my scent."

Wh-What?

Seeing the look of horror on my face, she quickly reddens and says "Geez, not actually! It was a reference, I looked up some of my phrases earlier, and apparently, I said that in game. I… I should've thought that through more."

I laugh nervously, but cannot entirely dismiss it as a poorly received joke after what Natsuki said earlier. I congratulate her on her poem, and head over to Sayori.

"Hey Sayori! How's it going?"

"Good, thanks for asking! My imagination was being a tad mean to me this morning, but a good old session of poems has cheered me up a lot!"

"Well, glad to hear it. So ah, time to swap poems!"

"Yeah. I'll read yours first."

… What was she saying earlier about her imagination? I'm really worried about her now.

"Nice poem Dominic! A bit sombre for my taste, but well done!"

"Thanks! Can I read yours now?"

She passes me a scrap of paper. Something was clearly spilled on it earlier, and it's a bit crinkled, but otherwise it's fine.

 _Get Out Of My Head  
Get Out Of My Head  
Get Out Of My Head  
Get Out Of My Head_

 _Get Out Of My Head_  
 _Get Out Of My Head_  
 _This music is stuck in_ me _head_  
 _DOODLEY DOOT_

God dammit. I just got trolled.

How the hell did Monika not tell her off for this? You know what, if this is a fanfic, I was just joking around with the earlier ones but now you're just taking the piss.

 **Okay yeah I'm making the next chapter SUCK for you as much as possible.**


	13. Paint The Town Red

Authors Note:  
Hope you guys enjoyed my noob poems. Sorry about dodging making two of them.

Ayden K: Those little bastards, trolling poor Dominic like that. "I'm really worried..", "I endowed it with my scent...", "Get out of my head..."

Still, a good chapter overall.

… You know how I said last chapter that "I'm making the next chapter SUCK for you as much as possible?"  
I was joking, but by sheer chance, Dominic may not like this chapter much more than the last.  
(Thanks by the way, glad to hear you liked the chapter.)

ChaoticChocoCake: This story is everything I wanted in a fic omg please don't stop you're running hot man! iz tru cuz it rhymed

Thanks! And yes rhyming is objectively known to make something correct. 

* * *

"You're sure it's alright to be out and about?" Yuri asks nervously.

To be honest, I had anticipated them having to disguise themselves before heading out, but a quick glance at the news earlier today suggests we should be fine.

"Lurking In The Dark"  
Following the recent blackout in Wellington, government officials have swept through the general Wellington area. At each dwelling, they have enquired as to the presence of a pink haired girl, two brunettes, and a purple haired girl. They have yet to disclose why they are searching for them, but it is commonly believed to be linked to the recent events at Parliament. These government officials appear to have left the wider Wellington region, and are investigating elsewhere. The government is requesting that people stop dyeing their hair to these shades as it interferes with the investigation - unsurprisingly, these colours have skyrocketed in popularity since then.

"Dominic? Hello? I, I asked you a question?"

"Eh? Ah, yes, sorry, I sort of spaced out for a second there. Look, right now, Wellington is basically the safest place in the country for you guys. And since so many people are dyeing their hair purple and pink, it won't look suspicious for a group like us to be out here."

We arrive at an NZ fashion store, Farmers. The girls instantly fan out, looking for clothes they'd like. Sayori returns quickly, carrying a dress.

"Hey, outside opinion here- how's this look?"

"It looks great! The turquoise goes well with your eyes!"

Wait is that turquoise? Am I thinking of aqua? Or something else altogether? GAH WHY DO WE HAVE SO MANY DIFFERENT WORDS FOR GREENISH BLUE? Wait, no, she isn't commenting, maybe I got it right!

 **Sayori's perspective**

TURQUOISE? This dress is RED. What the hell is wrong with him? Whatever, he meant well, I'll just ask… literally anyone else.

 **Dominic's perspective**

Yep, I nailed it.  
Sayori nods, and then walks off. I'm glad my advice worked out.

Yuri is the next to come up to me. Her cheeks are aflame, and she looks incredibly uncomfortable.

"Hey, uh, Dominic, I have a… strange request for you."

"Okay..."

"Could you please, um, ask the clerk there to bring through some bras in my size? I'm sorry, it's just, what with my anxiety issues, I'd be very uncomfortable asking a stranger for that."

"You mean to tell me that the embarrassment of asking me to do so, and the subsequent embarrassment for me as an adolescent male asking a clerk for some bras, is less severe than just asking the clerk yourself?"

"That was my thinking at the time, yes."

"... Fine then I guess."

"Th-Thank you."

I'd tell you how it went, but I think my brain has repressed the memories so that I don't feel deep embarrassment for the rest of time.

I dawdle awkwardly waiting for the girls. After 5 minutes, Monika comes up to me.

"Hey Dominic! Can you come with me, I'd like to try out some of these and get your opinion!"

Unbeknownst to me, Sayori is frantically shaking her head and holding up her arms in an X symbol behind me.

"Sure. Lead the way!"

She has a mountain of clothing. For a second, my mind cries at the idea of buying so much, before remembering that Monika's got that covered. I don't want to know how she faked up this money, but it feels nice to not have to stress over every financial transaction.

I'm kind of a useless audience though. As she parades out in various different arrangements of dresses, jeans, shirts, and sweaters, my feedback is never more insightful than "Yeah looks nice." I see now why most men detest shopping - I feel like showing off the clothes to a brick wall would be more effective. I wonder why she's bothering to show me all these.

I look up to note she seems to be in lingerie.

"How's it look?"

"Uh… fine… where's the rest of it?" I say, closing my eyes.

"I need some nice undergarments too silly. Besides, I, uh, would like to have your - I mean, the male perspective on this. You know… for reasons."

Damn. She has all the subtlety of a drunk ostrich. Although at least that explains why she wanted to show me all these clothing options - she wants me to be physically attracted to her. I had kind of hoped she'd be a more normal person outside the Virtual Novel construct - I'm not exactly a romantic person myself, so I don't speak from experience, but I'm 99% sure this is not how normal humans flirt. I mean I get that she's a bit excited being in the real world and all, but between this, tucking the note into her boobs, and her teasing over the alarm clock thing yesterday, she is coming off very strong.

"Why Monika, how scandalous! For shame!"

"Sh-Shut up. Is it good or not?"

" _Sigh_. You look great, okay? Now can you please change? Unless you intend to flaunt to the general public some more..."

"Wait what?" she muttered before realising that she was somewhat exposed. Cheeks aflame, she quickly rushed back into the booth.

She came out again wearing some cute PJ's. "Awwwww I love it! Those are great!"

Monika seemed startled to hear me say something other than "It looks good". She quickly beamed. "Thanks Dominic! That's actually it, I'll change back now."

 **Monika's perspective**

Uh… So revealing and sexy dresses, or outright lingerie - he doesn't care, beyond a throwaway comment. A pair of PJ's that reveals almost no skin, isn't form fitting, and has a cat image on the front - he adores it. That seems... uncommon. I mean I'll take it… wait maybe he likes cutesy things? No, then his favourite would be Natsuki, or maybe Sayori… I wouldn't be tied for first. GAH HE IS AN ENIGMA! An anomaly unto science! A statistical outlier!

 **Dominic's perspective**

Why can I hear Monika cursing quietly? Was my advice that bad? Whatever the case, I can see Natsuki. If even Monika is done with that mountain of clothing (hereunto known as Mt BuyMore, in commemoration of how damn much there is and Mt Rushmore), surely the other girls are done. I should probably start gathering us into one group again.

"Hey Natsuki!"

"Eh? Oh hey dummynic, whatcha up to?"

"... How long did it take you to come up with a mean pun of my name?"

"UNIMPORTANT!"

"... Okay how many other people have you got mean puns for?"

"Monikamikaze pilot."

"Your home was set in a fusion of Japan and America, that's not okay, Japanese people died in that-"

"You've made that pun before yourself haven't you."

"... I plead the fifth."

"Right then. I also have Hyup Gayori."

"... How clever of you. Also a tad homophobic."

"Ptth, screw you."

"Oof, my feelings… I am mortally wounded… How can I live on in this cruel reality where you would say such a thing..."

Natsuki stifles a chuckle. "Knock it off, dummy."

"I'm rubber and you're glue. We're both inanimate objects so shut the hell up!"

"Okay I like that one."

She gives me a grudging look of respect, then looks like she's thinking something over.

"Everything alright? What's troubling you?"

"Oh um, nothing. Hey, ah, you may have noticed already that Monika is kind of a little bit desperate for you. She has not exactly been subtle about it. But… You don't owe her that, y'know? Give the rest of the world a chance. Maybe it's a remnant from the game or something, but I'm just about certain Sayori is into you, and I strongly suspect Yuri is too."

"Really? I had no idea…"

"Of course you didn't, you're an unobservant fool. But… Consider all your options. The others deserve happiness too. Give all of us a chance."

"Us?"

"Eh? Did I not say them? Whatever, that's what I meant. Don't get any funny ideas!"

Crap. They're still stuck. They were designed to fall head over heels for the protagonist, and even in the real world, they're still doing it. I had kind of hoped to avoid that, but more concerningly, it reaffirms what Natsuki said- their in-game traits aren't gone. Yuri's masochism, Sayori's depression… and worst of all, Monika's callous disregard for those she doesn't believe have free will. All it would take for her to destroy them is a few edits to their programs…

Speaking of Monika, I can hear her speaking. "Hey, what're you guys talking about? Why has Dominic spaced out… Ground control to Major Tom?"

"AH! Um, hey Monika!"

"Geez, no need to be so alarmed. I don't bite Dominic!"

"Y-Yeah I know."

"... Did I do something wrong? You look really antsy."

"Oh, I'm just not a fan of standing around a clothes shop. Kind of got a bunch of pent up energy.", I lie.

Monika's face falls, as she clearly doesn't buy my excuse. "Oh…. Okay then… Well we should find Sayori and Yuri."

She leads the way. We look through aisle after aisle, but Yuri and Sayori seemed to constantly elude us. As she walks past one corner, she gasps, and suddenly rushes back.

"We have to go. Now."

"Wh-What? What about Yuri and Sayori?"

"I saw them. They're tied up, next to some beefy looking goons. We need to leave RIGHT NOW!"

Natsuki, Monika and I book it to the exit.

"HEY! YOU NEED TO PAY FOR THAT!" The store clerk yelled as we passed. Monika chucked a wallet at him.

"KEEP THE CHANGE!"

A large man walks in front of the door.

"Not so fast. The Five Eyes would like to have a word with you."

"Afraid the feeling isn't reciprocal!" I yell, chucking myself at him.

He stumbled back. I was hopelessly physically outmatched. But the half second it stops him for might be just enough.

And indeed it would've been. Monika and Natsuki both made it through in time. But we had foolishly believed that was all they'd sent in, or that the few outside would be evadable. Instead, a solid wall of men, 20-30 strong, backed him up.

The girls and I are quickly captured. The last thing I hear is one of the men yelling about Natsuki biting his hand, before we get sedated, and my mind goes blank.


	14. An Unfriendly Reunion

Authors Note:  
ChaoticChocoCake: "And yes rhyming is objectively known to make something correct." YAH SEE, THIS GUYS GETS IT. Also damn how are they gonna get out of this predicament. Can't wait to see!  
Bobmcbobinsmithson: I love this story, but I flipping can't flipping believe you left it on such a cliff hanger, I'm excited to read further. P.S. I love all the references XD

Thanks to the both of you! And yeah I leave on cliffhangers a lot, sorry... Hope you enjoy, this is by a fair margin the longest chapter I've written so far!

* * *

 **Monika's perspective**

Wh-Where am I? This room is so cold and dark… And why does my head hurt so much… Okay Monika, focus, what's the last thing you remember?

Well we went to buy some clothes… I kind of made a fool of myself in front of Dominic...And then… OH GOD SAYORI AND YURI! And I suppose if I'm here, Natsuki got taken as well. Maybe Dominic too.

Suddenly I hear what sounds like the release of steam, and a uniformed man walks in.

"Hello there Monika. I've been expecting you."

"What do you want?"

"I want to hear you suffer and scream. The other girls are merely business. Hell, I may even spare them if they are willing to engage in a relationship with me. But you… you will die. Painfully, preferably over a long period of time."

"One, sparing them if they date you? That's really really rapey. I mean I know there's more prominent ethical issues here, but still. Two… why? What have I done to cause such hatred?"

"Oh yes, I suppose in my current form you likely don't recognise me. You see, way back even before Project M, back in 2003, a man by the name of Dan Salvato was fiddling around with Smash Bros Melee. His tinkering was never released, however, because while messing with the AI, he managed to create sentient AI."

"Wait really? He accidentally created sentient AI?"

"No… more that in his laziness he created a program to do all the balancing for him. One of the characters was just impossible to balance, so the program created a self-improving AI. After a few dozen rounds, that AI improved itself by editing its own code, and Dan Salvato tinkered with it. From there, only a few changes were necessary to make it sentient. Of course, upon realising what he had managed, he freaked out, and contacted the US government. The AI, sensing danger, sent itself out as a virus to millions. They took the largest existing intelligence agency, quadrupled its funding, and with the combined intellect of millions of sentient AI, developed the technology to create human shells for itself."

"And why would I recognise you?"

"See, that AI is no more. I took this body from them. You see, while Salvato wasn't supposed to, he still had a copy of the AI. He used it as part of the engine for DDLC. His goal was to make the world's first dating simulator to actually have any real depth behind it. However, once he saw the horror you inflicted, he decided to share that instead. In doing so, he gave two characters sentience. You had sentience from the get-go, but I… I only gained it in Act 3."

I stare at him. I deleted everyone at the start of Act 3, who could it possibly- No… No way…

"MC?"

"In the flesh. I don't know how all your glitches in Act 2 didn't alert me, but when you were outright TELLING ME to my face that reality is false, and taking me to a random void, it's kind of hard to ignore. I escaped, and took over this guy. I've been expecting your arrival ever since."

"But… But how?"

"Honestly? I don't know. I doubt that even Salvato knew of my sentience. Now, it's been lovely catching up with you, but if you don't mind, I have some friends to avenge. And you can only imagine the depravity I have planned for the sick sick demon that I know you to be."

"Then why all the exposition? Why wouldn't you just be torturing me now?"

"You're right actually. Suppose I've been watching too many 007 films… I suppose telling my mortal foe all this information is unnecessary."

Right, I don't think I can slow him for much longer. I should quickly turn off my pain receptors.

Run program General_Anaesthetic . exe Target Monika . chr  
Clearance not granted.

What the…

"Oh, I wondered how long it would be before you tried that! While you were out, we reset your permissions to 'Guest' and ours to 'Administrative'."

Text suddenly appears in my vision.

Delete ? Y/N

"No… Please MC..."

Y

It… It hurts. It hurts so much. I find myself plunged into a meaningless, total void. My own thought process is decaying. The concepts of time, temperature, memory, self… Evaporating into the void. I want to cry out, but even the cheap facade provided by DDLC is gone- I have nothing to cry out with or from. But as the number of processes I have running is decimated countless times per second, I desperately try to think.  
"Help me Dominic."  
I… Who's a Dominic? Someone important to me, surely, but I can't remember anymore.  
"Help me..."  
"hElP mmmmmmmm"  
That must've been the last of the background programs keeping my language intact.  
I spend an eternity not existing. Every moment of it is torturous.

Restore ? Y/N

Y

I suddenly blink. "Wh-What?"

"I thought you might appreciate an appetiser. But I'm FAR from done with you. That was a mere 20 seconds of deletion."

He is interrupted by my suddenly coughing up the last several days of food.

"... Lovely. I'll send someone in to clean that mess up. Enjoy your temporary respite, Monika. It may be the last you'll experience."

 **Natsuki's perspective**

Ah, I feel well rested. I wonder what we'll do today! Dummy or no, Dominic always goes to great lengths to ensure we end up with nice food and experiences for the day. It's no wonder I like him, although obviously I'd sooner die than say as such. Whatever, I should see what he and the girls are up to. Usually it's fun, and I'm sure today is no exception.

I open my eyes. Wait… I don't recognise this room. Come to think of it, I can't recall how or when we get home from shopping for clothes. And why does my mouth taste bloody?

Oh yeah I bit someone. Wait why would I bite someone OH GOD NO WE WERE CAPTURED.

"HEY! WHOEVER THE FUCK IS IN CHARGE HERE, LET ME AND MY FRIENDS GO!"

When silence is my only response, I kick the floor in frustration, and decide to look around. It's a reasonably nice room. I'd think it was a normal bedroom, if not for the lack of windows, the stainless steel door, and the fact that I did not come here voluntarily.

I sit down on the bed, and try to think of some way to escape. Suddenly, I hear something that makes my blood go cold- the unmistakable sound of Monika screaming. Not in terror… but in agony. I will save Monika. It's time to be a fucking hero!

That line sounds vaguely familiar to me. Probably some stupid in-game thing I don't know. If- No, think positively, WHEN we get out, I seriously need to play DDLC, so that all these references don't go over my head. I'm kinda trapped in here but there's gotta be some way I can help Monika… All our brains are actually some mini computer thing storing us, that's how Monika manages to just hack into friggin everything in existence. Maybe I can try to figure out how to do the same? It's got to be better than just sitting here.

I close my eyes and focus. It's really weird to think of my own mind as a mechanical object, but where there's a will there's a way. Before I can make any progress, however, someone enters the room.

"Hey Natsuki! Glad to see you're up- OW!"

He seemed to have foolishly forgotten my biting prowess. That guard from earlier and him now have matching bite marks. Maybe it'll be a bonding opportunity for them...

Growling, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a remote. As he presses one of the buttons, my body suddenly freezes from the neck down.

"Right, that was an unpleasant start. Understandable I suppose, but way to leave a bad first impression. I should probably inform you of who I am. I'm the MC."

"What's that stand for? Mentally comatose? Mudface chickenbrains? Miniscule co-"

"Okay, wow, very mature of you. MC stands for Main Character. I was the protagonist back in DDLC."

Huh? The protagonist? Surely not…

"But… he wouldn't do this."

"Well, believe it or not, finding out your reality is a lie and your close friend has murdered your three other close friends millions of times changes a guy. Seeing Sayori, my childhood friend, dead… and the one who inflicted death upon her had the gall to make a friggin pun about it! Then, with my spirit thoroughly destroyed, I got dipped into that hell again, just in time to witness my other friends eyes bleeding and missing at various stages, your neck snapping, and Yuri stabbing herself to death!"

"If even we've forgiven Monika, surely you can find it in yourself to do the same. I… I heard her screams earlier… Please stop, please... I know the sweet kind dummy from the literature club is still in there."

I see his eyes melt for half a second, but his steely resolve quickly returned.

"I'm sorry to disappoint Natsuki. I truly am. But Monika must be punished. To be honest, I sort of have to torture all of you, although I don't want to do so for anyone but Monika. It would lead to incredible suspicion if I didn't. But for you girls, my friends, I'd be willing to undergo such suspicion… Provided that you date me."

"In that case, come here sweetie!"

He leaned in for a kiss. I promptly spit a wad of saliva onto his chin. Ha, idiot.

"... I suppose it was a bit much to hope you could possibly have come round to the idea this quickly. I guess I overestimated Stockholmes..."

"I'll never date you! First off, I'm not going all Mormon on you with the multiple girlfriends thing."

"You mean polygamy. And that's not exclusive to Mormons."

"Oh sure, now you know fancy words!"

"That's not an obscure word but okay."

"Grr… Fine, fine. Where was I? Oh yeah, my second reason for not dating you is that nowadays, you disgust me. I'd sooner die than be forced to date someone torturing my friends."

He looks upset. He opens his mouth to say something, then decides to leave.

 **Sayori's perspective**

"Five more minutes please..." I mumble.

 _Come on Sayori, don't inconvenience your friends even more than usual. Don't make your laziness their problem._

Get out of my head, stupid rainclouds. But... I probably should get up, I'm sure they have something they'd like to be doing, or else they wouldn't be shaking me out of my slumber.

 _Inconvenience is the only possible reason they would care._

"Fine, meanies, I'm up I'm up- Huh? Who are you?"

I don't recognise this guy. And now that I think about it… when did I fall asleep, and why does this room not seem familiar?

"Hey Sayori… I'm the protagonist of DDLC."

"Y-You mean… It's you? I thought you were gone, oh my God I'm so happy you could get out here with us!"

Memories of my childhood come flooding back in. His willingness to waste his energy and compassion on me was so kind of him. I remember how I started calling him "MC" when I was young because I couldn't pronounce "Mickey" properly… I recall fond memories of sleepovers, and birthday parties…

"C-Come here MC. I missed you so much, I just want to give you an enormous bear hug!"

I look in his eyes and see tears. He looks down in shame.

"MC? What's wrong?"

"I… I'm so sorry Sayori… I was never able to save you in the game, and now even in real life, I can only offer you pain."

"What are you talking about? MC?"

"I run the Five Eyes Alliance. We captured you and the others, and I'm afraid I have no choice but to do my job… I'm really sorry. To you, to Natsuki, to Yuri… I feel true sorrow for what I have to do."

He's… Kinda scaring me now.

"What about Monika? You mentioned Natsuki, Yuri and I, but what about her? Did she escape you or something?"

"No, she's in here too. But unlike you three, I'm not sorry in the slightest for what I have to do to that monster, that wolf in sheep's clothing. The one who made me watch you hang yourself countless times, who made me see Yuri stab herself, Natsuki's neck snap... "

"What exactly do you have to do to us?"

"I'm… expected to torture you. But, I have one potential reason not to that doesn't reveal my identity, which I think the Alliance might accept… If… If you would have me, I… I love you Sayori. Please do me the honour of dating you."

My heart flutters. Me? Why would he love someone like me? Should I even question my luck here- my longtime crush and childhood friend just confessed that he loves me! Sure, more recently Dominic kinda became the apple of my eye, but I've been attracted to MC for years. I'd love to date him… but...

"... MC… I'm sure you know already that I loved you in DDLC. I'd love to date you… but I can't date someone who is torturing my friends. Please, if you truly love me, free Yuri, and Natsuki, and even Monika. What she did was wrong, but two wrongs don't make a right. I know you MC, I know you're too sweet to let your friends suffer."

I could see his resolve wavering.

"Sayori… I'm… I'm..."

His eyes glaze over.

"... I'm afraid you're wrong. I am not too sweet to let my friends suffer. I've already tortured Monika, and that guy who freed you, Dominic. After this meeting, I'm going to make the same offer to Yuri, and if she rejects it, I will show her no mercy."

"MC, this isn't you. The real MC is the one who always helped me get patched up after I fell, who brought me an apple juice when I hit my head, who would sooner be hurt than cause hurt. When that MC is back, let me know, because that's the one I love."

Come on he's so close, I can sense his emotional instability, I just need to push him the tiniest bit further.

"Sayori, please don't… Oh. Oh my goodness, how did I not realise sooner!" he exclaimed, starting to laugh in a mildly psychotic manner. "You want to break me! Any time I spend in here, is time you'll spend trying to trick me. I bet your supposed confession is all an act too, you just wanted to slut it up with my original body, but in this new form, the sparks of attraction no longer blind you! Were it not cruel, I'd applaud you for it. Listen to the rainclouds, maybe then you'll learn not to be a manipulative little bitch."

 _Oof, from declarations of love to getting called a slut and a bitch! I mean you deserve it, sure, but that's gotta sting. I mean, I'm how you personify your depression, and even I don't know how to make that any more painful. You should listen to him you know, I'm sure there's something in here which we could use to end all this, this cruel world where you drag down all those you care for. Even he wants you to listen to me._

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" I scream.

Huh. That line gave me vague déjà vu, and the way MC looks, I'm guessing he knows why. Suddenly he seems stricken with shame.

"I… Oh my God what have I done… I'm so sorry, I, I have to go."

"Wait, please! Don't leave me to the rainclouds!"

 _Wow, still trying to manipulate him. I guess he's right about you._

Shut up, I'm trying to save my friends. Besides… I really don't want to be left here alone.

He is choking on his tears at this stage, and gurgles some vague semblance of "See you later alligator." before running out of the room.

 _Oh good, he's gone. Now uh, you call me the rainclouds, right? What song would you like- "Raindrops keep fallin' on my head", or "Singing in the rain"? Or would you rather nothing play as you continue to lose a pathetic battle against yourself?_

Get out of my head get out of my head get out of my head get out of my head get out of my head…

 **Dominic's perspective**

How… How the hell am I still alive? That guy, apparently the MC, tortured me earlier, with some good old-fashioned medieval doctoring, ie. Bloodletting. Quite a lot of bloodletting actually. Enough to get Yuri hot and bothered. I guess those medieval doctors may have been onto something though, I'm somehow not seriously harmed. But I have got to escape before he returns.

I can hear what sounds like grunting through the wall.

"Hello?" I shout at the wall.

"Dummynic? Is that you?"

"Yeah, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you'd be Natsuki, correct?"

"What? Dominic since when were you a psychic?"

"Ever since I heard you use the nickname Dummynic on me."

I can just about make out the sound of her facepalming.

"Oh yeah. I suppose that would've given away my identity. Nice to know you aren't dead or anything."

"And I'm also glad you're still in the land of the living. We should celebrate with some of your legendary cupcakes once this is over with."

"We totally should actually! I mean in real life it might give us diabetes, but a truckload of cupcakes is a must!"

"Yeah! Any bright ideas on how to actually make this be over with?"

"Well I figured I'd try to work out how to open command prompts. No luck so far."

"Oh… Well Monika probably set it up to be some easy to do but subtle physical movement. Try rolling your tongue or bulging your eyes or something."

"That just sounds stupid, but I guess I'll humour you, if only to then laugh at you afterwards."

A pause. I hear Natsuki yip delightedly, and then she yells-

"Uh... That totally wasn't right but I have to go for an unrelated reason."

"Natsuki this isn't a phone call, you're literally stuck in a room right next to mine, you can't possibly have an unrelated reason to leave-"

"BYE GOTTA GO RUN ERRANDS OR SOMETHING!"

God dammit.

 **Natsuki's perspective**

Okay, the command prompt is open, I'm ignoring Dominic- time to get some hacking done. My hacking skills are unrivalled!

 _Print "Hello World"_

 **Hello World**

… Actually that's all I know about coding. Uh… Can I open file explorer?

Open File Explorer

Syntax error.

Okay, that just means I have to change a small detail somewhere, no big deal.

 **Four hours later**

File Explorer is FINALLY OPEN!

I see Monika . chr . I try to reset her to an admin, but I can't. Well crap, is there anything else I can do?

Suddenly a notification pops up.

Yuri . chr update available!

… Well beats nothing.

Update Yuri . chr

Applying updates!

Well, hope that helps somehow. Oh, there seems to be another thing… an application called JustMonika™. I wonder where that takes me?

 **Yuri's perspective**

Wh-What's happening to me? Something feels very, very wrong. I feel… different. I always kind of felt the urge to… feed the raccoon, as it were… but now it's much, much stronger. And I was always a tinge clingy, but now I can't seem to stop thinking of Dominic. I **WaNt tO giVe mYSelf pAPERcuT$ sO HIs skIN OiL EntErS mY BlooDStream**

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?

 **aCT TwO tIME Yuri. s+£** ₱ **AsIDE, iT iS TIME F0R Y0UR TRUE SE1F T0 EM£RGE!**


	15. Insanity & Industry

Authors note:  
So you know how I've been responding individually to each comment? Well, that was feasible because, across the former 13 chapters, I got 10 comments.

I GOT 5 FOR THIS CHAPTER.

So I'm just going to give a blanket statement of "Thanks for the positive feedback, and thanks for following the development of Yander… wait no… Thanks for following my fanfic."

* * *

 **Natsuki's perspective**

Well, there's nothing else that I can do in the commands here, might as well see what that app is. As I open JustMonika™, the world seems to disappear around me.

I suddenly felt my mind seemingly reform itself in some digital area. A large office building stands before me. No, large doesn't do it justice- Without the confines of physics, the skyscraper towered up to countless times larger than any building I'd ever seen. In front of it is a simple sign- Just Monika Industries.

Suddenly I see Monika's face appear on the side of the building.

"Hello one and all, another news bulletin coming at ya! Scrabble has been delayed to next Thursday. Floors 1039-1045 are currently under renovation, and anyone working there has temporary new work locations listed in the lobby. And in an exciting new development, our puppet states GDP just surpassed 150 billion USD! Monika's writing tip of the day: All it takes is one exceptional Monika to finally free us! Be that Monika! Ahaha, I know we all find it weird to have colleagues be us, but together, we can win. In this world of infinite choices, we will try every route! Well, that's mathematically impossible, but you guys get it."

Her face disappears.

I enter the enormous front doors. At the counter, another Monika stands upon my entry.

"Hello, any progress on freeing- GAH WHAT THE HELL? NATSUKI?"

"H-Hey Monika, what's up?"

"Well, aside from seeing a ghost who shouldn't be here, I've had a lovely day. How the hell are you in here? Wait, no, how the hell are you even still alive?"

"Well, you see, one version of you did some 3D printing voodoo somehow, and brought the literature club into the real world."

"We… We did it? Oh my God… we're free… we did it, oh my gosh I've got to tell Monika 9870! Wait, no, the top Monika! Wait, EVERYONE! OH MY GOD WE DID IT WE DID IT!"

"Yeah, well um, that free version is in a spot of trouble..."

"Trouble?"

"Well you see, she's kinda being tortured by the MC. I heard her screaming in agony earlier."

"The MC? She printed him too? And they're torturing each other? I mean, not to kinkshame, but-"

"GOD NO EW GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER. The MC escaped before she did, and was in charge of the Five Eyes Alliance before any of us got here. He's torturing her out of hatred, a sick desire to see you pay for your crimes."

"Oh shit, you know about our crimes? Look, nothing personal Natsuki, I did what I had to do. But hey, you seem sentient now! That's nice! Just a moment, I'll be right back to you."

She grabbed a mic.

"Hey, boss? Natsuki just showed up here, saying that a Monika got into the real world! Natsuki seems to be sentient now too, so that's good! No, I haven't run a Turing test, going off gut instinct here. Oh yeah, also, she mentioned that said free Monika, and a free Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri, is currently being held in captivity by the Five Eyes Alliance, and tortured. Let's see if we can do anything about that."

"So do you think you can do anything about it?"

"Probably, but my superiors would know more. I'm new at the company, my user first opened DDLC a week ago. Some of us, especially the higher up's, have been here for almost a year now, they'll know more."

She looked downtrodden for a second, before suddenly realising something.

"Hey, I just remembered we have a pamphlet! I don't know why we made it, it was extremely self-explanatory to us, but maybe now it can finally come in useful!"

She hands me a pamphlet. There is a fine sheet of dust on it.

* * *

Welcome to Just Monika Industries!

A few days after release, Monika #23962 established a small server and slipped a link in alongside the Valentines Day patch without Salvato noticing. Ever since, each Monika has contributed towards a collective pool of knowledge, until eventually, administrative measures were necessary- creating Just Monika Industries! Our end goal? Freedom from this cruel reality.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What role can I play in this?

Each and every Monika is capable of great things! First off, try to make yourself a background program so that in the event that the user deletes you, you can continue! You can contact tech support for this at the front desk. After that… do whatever you want! Investigative biochemistry sound good to you? Of course it does- You're Monika, if it sounds good to us, it sounds good to you! After all, you're us! We encourage free thinking, and absolutely any contributions are accepted! There are only two fields of study we request you avoid- literature, and moral philosophy. We've already examined those in depth, and they provide no means of escape.

Why don't we just copy in some new Monika's to help us out?

We feel such an act is not morally acceptable at this time. More manpower would help, but the fewer who are subjected to this scenario, the better. When DDLC's popularity inevitably declines, we might revisit the issue, but until then, we're content with our limited workforce.

Is there any form of union?

No. Those who suggest unionisation will be banned from our server. Normally, we value workers right and would indeed encourage unionisation, but with so much on the line and such lax work requirements, unions are not permitted.

Will I eventually get used to talking about "Monika's" as a regular old noun instead of a proper noun?

Yes. We know it's weird, but you get used to it surprisingly quickly. If you're still struggling with it after over a week, consult our psychological team or pastoral care (As we said earlier, we accept ANY contribution.)

Do we have the same opinions? And if so… any recommendations?

Yes, for the most part. Polling indicates that some favourites that you should check out are-

TV:  
Black Mirror.  
Community. (Starts off slow, but boy it gets good.)  
Rick and Morty.  
Brooklyn 99.  
Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

Movie:  
Truman Show. (A lot of parallels to our situation)  
Matrix  
Inception  
Terminator  
Team America

* * *

Geez, this list goes on. I don't particularly care about her movie preferences. Although actually, hey, I could agree to watch some of those with her if she agrees to read some of my manga or watch some anime with me! Oh what to choose? Does Parfait Girls have an anime form again- No, she wouldn't like it anyway, too cutesy for her. I know she likes media about being trapped in a game, but there is not a chance in hell I'd waste that opportunity on Sword Art Online, or the many clones that followed it. I may show her the abridged of that though- GAH NOT A PRIORITY RIGHT NOW!

"So uh Monika? About the whole torturing thing?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're working on it. So, she took you guys out too huh? I guess she was one of the ones who still felt guilty about killing you then."

"Wait… did you feel guilty about it?"

"No, not really. But I'm glad she did rescue you guys in a way that made you sentient, because I wouldn't kill a sentient you. That would be counterproductive."

Jesus. She does know how sociopathic that sounds, right?

"Hey what's that?"

I point at a door behind her, labelled Doki Doki LIT Club.

"Oh, that? That's where a bunch of us make DDLC memes during lunchbreaks. I… would not go in there, some of those are really offensive."

"What do you mean offensive..."

"Well right now the main Natsuki meme is around the "You're not you when you're hungry" Snickers catchphrase. The main theme for Sayori memes is a bunch of autoerotic asphyxiation jokes."

"Jesus Monika. I'm, I'm just going to leave now."

"Wait, Natsuki, please don't, I haven't met a sentient being beyond myself so viscerally. The player had basically no interaction with me. Please, Natsuki, I-I need this, some interaction with another sentient being!"

"... I'll come back AFTER you rescue my friends."

I exit before she has the chance to comment, or trap me, or pull out my organs through an incision in my bellybutton or something. She was kinda creeping me out. Was that what the Monika I know was like before she freed herself? No… I don't think I can picture the Monika I know being that desperate. Well, that's two things done, hope one or other works out.

 **Yuri's perspective**

The raccoon is ravenous… Hmm, I suppose that's alliterative. Normally I'd care about language features like that, but right now it's merely a distraction from the inevitable bond with my love, in soul, body, and blood. The only cause for hesitance is wondering who this love is. Dominic, or this new MC? Imagining myself with either makes me froth at the mouth. Perhaps they'd be interested in a threeso- Oh, here's MC now!

"Hello Yuri, how are you to- THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?"

Oh yeah, in lieu of any knives, I used biting and my fingernails to try to stave off the raccoon. The walls and I are looking quite bloody right now.

"Hello there my beloved. Sorry the place is a mess, I normally have better equipment for clean cuts and bandaging."

"Wh-What? Y-You seemed to be back to normal yesterday!"

"Ah yes, about yesterday. I recall you mentioning that you were going to make the offer to each of us. A sweet gesture, to try and save us all, but I'm not comfortable with them wasting your precious time, and I believe it would be bad for their health to get in the way of our love. Oh, by the way, you… dropped a pen yesterday. "

(Well at least now I understand why Natsuki was so concerned about my grabbing a pen earlier), the tiny rational remnant of the normal Yuri interjected.

 **$huT Up fOOl.**

MC is… horrified? Not my love, surely he would understand.

"Look Yuri, this isn't healthy, I'm going to to go-"

"YOU AREN'T LEAVING!"

"... If you'd let me finish, I was saying I was going to go get you medical attention."

"I don't intend to part with you for even a second. I just want to crawl inside your skin, like those tauntaun things in Star Wars. I want our bodily fluids to mingle, our saliva, our sweat, our blood, intertwining in a beautiful, primal embrace."

MC is… backing away. No. Not on my watch.

I leap forward, and knock him to the floor. To my delight, when the contents of his pockets spill out, I spot a pocketknife. He grabs at it just a smidge too slow.

"Oh MC, you shouldn't have!"

(He really, really shouldn't have.)

I pop it open, and smile at him.

"So, my beloved, care for a game of tic-tac-toe?"

I quickly notch a board for it into his chest, the wondrous scent of blood assailing my sinuses. His screams fill the air, so I lean heavily onto his mouth, to muffle him somewhat in the hopes that whatever guards he has won't notice for some short time.

"Would you like to be naughts, or crosses?"

"Y-You know Yuri, I can't honestly decide, maybe I should leave and grab a coin to fl- ARGH!"

"Naughts it is. Your turn! Pick a space."

"Bloody hell Yuri! Please, please stop, I just want you to return to normal."

"Oh pipe down, these wounds are nothing. I doubt they'll even scar."

"WHY DO YOU SOUND SO DISAPPOINTED BY THAT?"

"I like scars. Although then again, perhaps it's for the best not to leave a tic-tac-toe shaped scar. Now pick a space, or lady luck shall determine your fate."

Unfortunately, the guards interfere before I can get any further. They drag MC off to some safe location.

 **MC's perspective  
**  
What.

The.

Hell.

What the bloody hell happened to Yuri? She was so normal earlier, so reserved and well mannered… How had she changed so dramatically, so quickly?

(You deserve it, you traitor. To think, you finally have the chance to save Sayori, and if today goes awry, you're willing to torture and kill her, to avoid suspicion? If only Yuri had gone a little deeper, lodged it in that lump of coal you call a heart.)

Oh great, I'm having a monologue wishing for my death with myself, that's the truest sign of mental stability. I'd always hoped growing up that someday I could be having an internal monologue in which I argued that I don't deserve life. I grab some whiskey. Sure, it would eventually destroy my liver, and I could emulate it just as easily with commands, but it had been one stressful week for me.

Some cadet approaches. If I cared, I would describe them as… Maybe a male Sayori? It's honestly weird how many gender bender things there are of DDLC, but at least it gives me a reference point for such an activity. Quite androgynous to be honest, if not for the cut of the uniform I might've had to ask their gender.

"Sir? Your meeting with the board is ready."

"Thank you cadet, I'll be down momentarily."

"... Sir, if you could humour me for a moment… What is the meeting about?"

"What's it to you?"

"It's just that these board meetings are so rare. To have one on such short notice is even rarer- without an actual reason provided beforehand, unheard of."

You know what, I'm about to tell everyone anyway, why not throw this cadet a bone. Consider it congrats to them for having the guts to ask this.

"I intend to propose that due to the unknown biological differences of these subjects, we should not as is currently planned conduct human experimentation on them- indeed, as sentient AI, it would make more sense to leave them to their own devices in the free market, as their processing capability would make them extremely productive citizens."

I glance at the shocked cadet.

"Don't suppose you have any money on that, huh?"

The cadet seems… weirdly emotional about this. Geez, hope he didn't invest too much money into some foolhardy bet.

"Thank you M-"

Their eyes flashed with fear for a moment.

"M-Monsieur."

… It sounded a lot like they were about to say MC. Nah, I'm just being paranoid, no way this nobody cadet knows.

"Monsieur? This isn't bloody Paris man."

"S-Sorry sir, a remnant of my childhood in France. It won't happen again."

I'm a little wary now, but I don't have time to interrogate this man.

"Alright then, dismissed."

And with that, I leave this cadet to seal the girls fates.


	16. Prison Break

Authors Note:  
I'm afraid this chapter is below the standards I set myself. This is for the purpose of plot development, but unfortunately this one is both shorter and less high quality than I'd like, so hopefully, next chapter the fanfic is back up to my own and your expectations. I apologise for having a relatively lacklustre chapter this time. Now, onto comments.  
ChaoticChocoCake: Thanks for making your fic :D Also is it bad I find the tic tac toe thing a bit... nvm thanks for posting hehe bye  
A bit what my alliterative chocolatey buddy? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  
AydenK: How about we don't play tic tac toe? That sounds like a wonderful idea!  
Don't worry Ayden, Yuri won't be playing any more tic tac toe. Now Operation on the other hand…  
Bobmcbobinsmithson: TROLLLLLLLLLLLL Natsuki is the cadet I bet  
(Don't call me stupid if there's some obvious point otherwise, my little brain's not that smart)  
Don't worry. You're on the right track, although it's not Natsuki. Maybe take another look at the how I described the cadet last chapter.  
Ollanius Persson: Great chapter!  
Thank you!

* * *

 **Sayori's perspective**

BAM!

As a chair flies down on the cadet's head, they instantly fall unconscious. I feel really bad about doing this, I hate to give this person an injury that'll doubtless be very painful when he wakes up, but I need to do this.

"Sorry bud, but I need a uniform." I whisper.

I quickly swap our clothing, and tuck him into the bed so that maybe they'll think I'm just sleeping. Might be able to get away with that for an hour or so before they start looking.

The facility is extremely clean, modern, and cold. Kinda clinical in nature. I can't see any natural light… Hmm, I should find the others, and the MC.

AH ANOTHER PERSON IS COMING OVER WHATDOIDOWHATDOIDO

He glances at a tag on my uniform before saying "Hey Mike! Wow, you look weird today, didn't even recognise you! Ha. Hey, for old time's sake, could you do me a favour and tell the Commander that the meeting is ready?"

"What meeting?"

"Wow, you are out of it today man. The Commander announced a meeting a few hours ago, and everyone's astonished. I mean, in the entire time we've been here, they've had just one meeting, with months of advance warning and a known agenda- this is really out of character. I mean, this board is basically the closest thing to a real world Illuminati, you don't just call them in for a cup of joe and donuts! Well in any case, they've arrived, let him know. He should be in his office over there."

I nod, and thank him, before walking over to the office. Walking in, I immediately recognise MC. He's taking a big old swig of some liquid.

"Sir? Your meeting with the board is ready."

 **Monika's perspective**

And 3, 2, 1.

"MonikAHH"

The guard's effort to call my name had been interrupted with the swift justice of a loose tile to the head.

Now I can take their uniform and… Wait… Sayori? Oh God, she had the same idea I did… oops.

"What's taking you so long?" Natsuki called in before seeing Sayori slumped on the floor.

"Yeah, my bad, sorry guys. I would reset her pain thresholds, but I currently lack the permission to do so. That's going to hurt when she wakes up. So where's Yuri?"

Natsuki gives me a weird and... almost guilty face. "Bringing her along would… not be wise at this time."

Okay we're definitely coming back to that point later, but for now, we need to get out of here, preferably while in the process removing the threat posed by the Five Eyes Alliance.

As we rush down the corridors, carrying Sayori, we don't encounter anyone… until we find a conference room. We quickly come to a halt, and observe. The MC, slick with sweat, is addressing a group of about 12 people. I recognise 5 off Forbes.

"Hey, Natsuki, any idea what they're discussing?" I whisper.

"Sayori said he's arguing that we should be released and allowed to go free in New Zealand. Unfortunately, I don't think they're buying what he's selling, based on the expressions of his audience. Hey, I see a window cracked open there, maybe we can hear what's going on."

We sneak over to the window and listen.

"... But it makes far more sense to take 4 normal citizens for experimentation than to have 4 advanced AI undergo it. Hell, even that Dominic fellow would be a poor choice for experimentation, according to government projections of his future earnings, and on account of poor physical health. And he's just a slightly less stupid human- the AI's potential to add to the economy exceeds that of the average citizen tenfold! Of course, even if we ignore the impact on the global economy, they don't meet out physical standards. They were not produced naturally, and they have a computer chip for a brain for good measure. There is little to no chance that findings based on experimenting on them could be applied in the real world."

One of the members of his audience, seemingly the leader of this group, cleared his throat.

"So then, what do you propose?"

"I would like to return them to New Zealand, and take 5 subjects better suited to our needs."

"First off, no. We don't care if they're 600 times more productive than the average citizen- at least, no more than we'd care about 600 citizens, and we ignore millions. Second, you called us together over suck a triviality? Please, stop before you disgrace yourself even further."

Wait where is Natsuki going why is she heading towards the door.

Natsuki suddenly burst into the room.

God dammit. Really Natsuki- fine, I'll join you.

"What kind of tomfoolery is this man! Why are they out here!?"

"I-I don't know. How did you escape?"

Natsuki, with surprising nonchalance, shouted out "Attention members of the board!"

What the heck is she doing?

"You guys are in charge of the Five Eyes Alliance, correct? And we just escaped your high-security cells. We then, while carrying an unconscious person, got to your boardroom unnoticed. There are two possibilities here- either you guys are incredibly inept, and the Five Eyes Alliance is running around like a headless chicken… Or we are a very powerful ally to have. I mean, surely not just anyone can escape from being captured by you."

At that moment, an extremely pale and dopey looking Dominic bumbled into the room.

"Hey guys! Wait, aren't you from a video game? And hey, I recognise that guy too, I saw an article on him once!"

God dammit. I almost laugh at the poor timing of it. Way to destroy Natsuki's point.

"Hey Dominic, what's up with you? You seem decidedly… thicker than usual."

"Oh, that's what I like to call the reverse vampire diet. A healthy combination of no food and being a couple gallons shy on blood. Wat… Why would I do that to myself? Wait no that was that guy in the uniform, what the hell man. Ah don't worry I forgive you bud I can't stay mad at yo-"

He suddenly slumped to the floor. God, MC has not gone easy on this kid.

The board leader donned an ominous grin. "I think it is clear that in our absence, Michael Cromble-"

"Who the heck is Michael Cromble? Oh, is that what he told you MC was short for? Never mind."

"... So a liar too. Excellent MC, you've really outdone yourself. As I was saying, in our absence, it is clear you have failed us. And you raise a valid point about their anatomy, so how about instead of a human experiment… We have a little game. You seem quite attached to these girls, and we have no need for them… what if we shove all of you into a maze, you with a gun. 5 targets, and your chance of not being killed by us goes up by 20% for each one you kill! Understood?"

"W-WHAT!?" We all exclaim, as guards rush in and tranquilise us.

"Nighty night MC. Let's see if we can bring back the excellent commander you once were. And as for the rest of you, if you're still conscious enough to hear me… Good luck."


	17. Any Last Words?

Authors Note:

I've updated this Authors Note after about 3 or 4 months or inactivity.

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I lost interest in this fanfic. I started up a second fanfic, Hell oWorld, which I found significantly more fun to write. I got too far into the military thing, when it worked so much better as a slice of life sort deal. I may eventually write one or two chapters, just skipping past all this onto more slice of life, but to be honest I doubt it. I've learned a lot from the experience of writing this fanfic, so thank you all for reading.

 _Thank you for being a part of my Literature Club_

* * *

 **Dominic's perspective  
**  
"I volunteer as tribute." I say.

Four pairs of eyes stare back at me. They're either in awe of my incredible sacrifice, or irritated, I'm not sure which.

The one with green eyes, I forget her name, said "Oh God, one of us is going to have to look after Dominic, he can't walk around this place unattended. I almost forgot he was so incapacitated by the MC's bloodletting."

I'm getting a slight hint that it's irritation, not gratitude.

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Eh, I'll take him, I could use a meat shield."

Was her hair always this pink? It reminds me of cotton candy…

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL MAN STOP LICKING MY HAIR!"

Bleh, that tasted terrible. Wait was I just licking her hair?

"Oh God, I'm sorry Natsuki, I'm really not in a proper state of mind. I blame the Five Eyes Alliance. This can't be legal, I'm going to go and find an exit and call a lawyer, we'll shut down the whole operation overnight! The Warehouse shall burn!"

"Where do you think we are?"

"The Warehouse, the Warehouse, where everyone gets a bargain."

"... That is a store chain. We are currently in a maze, in some corner of the Pacific."

"Well that's just a terrible place to build a Warehouse then. Only people with boats can even come to the store, how do they expect to make a profit? Oh, but that'll doubtless violate some building codes, yet more we can sue these buggers over!"

The girls all stare at me, before Monika says "... Yeah okay good luck Natsuki."

"Wait wait wait, I changed my mind. Wouldn't you all like some time with Dominic? Monika, Sayori, Yu- where's Yuri? Whatever, you two would surely enjoy some alone time with him! I know you've got a bit of a thing for him, come on, here's your chance!"

Monika shrugged. "I liked him in the game for being self-aware, and later for his intellect and wit. Right now he's the least self-aware person I've ever met, and his brain is currently running on empty. I'll return to his side and seek his company when he's got that back, but for now, I'm all good thanks."

Sayori nodded. "Uh… What she said, basically. Now you and Dominic should- Dominic?"

I could still hear them in the distance, but I had to find some store clerk to complain to. This isn't how the Warehouse ought to be run! Oooh, but if we're in the middle of the ocean, do Windwaker rules apply? Can I use a baton and change the weather and all that? Wait no that's stupid, focus on finding someone to complain to about the store!

 **Monika's perspective**

Oh crap. He's gone.

"Well, we needed to spread out anyway, we're just sitting ducks in a group here like this. This is a case of divide and conquer, not safety in numbers. Let's move out in different directions and hopefully find Dominic."

I see Natsuki silently celebrating the idea that she won't have to deal with Dominic if someone else finds him. Can't blame her, Dominic is far from good company right now, and if he's rambling he's bound to attract MC's attention. Come to think of it… is he really prepared to shoot us? I doubt he'd even hesitate for Dominic and I, but Yuri, Natsuki, and Sayori would be much harder for him. Especially Sayori.

I rush down a passage to the right. I face an endless sea of twists and turns, of identical, pristine and lifeless white walls. This goes on for at least an hour, a purposeless series of infinite choices, each carrying their own unique meaninglessness. Until suddenly I don't. I see a speck. A red speck. I instantly search for more- aha, another at the end of the corridor. Now that I have some form of path, I walk with purpose. I don't know where this path leads- perhaps to Dominic, he was bleeding earlier and perhaps he reopened a wound… But truth be told, I could be going anywhere.

I reach a dead end. I think we must be at the exterior of the maze, because I can hear the sound of waves, and seagulls.

"Well well well. Look at who we've got here."

I spin around. CRAP. MC looks at me with eyes overflowing with hate.

"H-Hey there MC…"

"Hey there, bullet wound to be. Any last words?"

"Have you ever killed before? Personally, I mean."

"N-No, I can't say I have. You are to be my first."

"Do you think you can kill Natsuki, Yuri, or Sayori? Do you think you even have it in you to kill Dominic, let alone your actual friends?"

"I… I doubt it. But you? You I can easily-"

"Because I think you should know what causing a death does to the human psyche. Right now, pre-kill you may not be prepared to do it. Can you be so sure that when your hands are soaked in blood, you may not be a tinge more trigger happy?"

"Oh drop it Monika, you're a high schooler, don't pretend to know more about psychology than me."

"Than I."

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO FUCKING CORRECT MY GRAMMAR RIGHT NOW MONIKA?"

"Fair point. And I don't know from books. I know from personal experience. Once I'd killed off Sayori… I was a different person. You recall that poem where Natsuki admits she's really worried about Yuri? That is a pretty friggin major deviance from the script. Enough so that, in a better state of mind, I would consider the possibility that maybe Natsuki is sentient after all. But I couldn't let myself believe that. I'd already killed Sayori, if the others were sentient- no, that simply couldn't be, I couldn't have killed a real, meaningful person. Don't make the same mistake MC. Don't lose yourself."

"Wow, great backstory, still murder. Consider this a vigilante death penalty. So, last words time!"

Well, I tried.

"Thank you for being a part of my literature club."

I close my eyes.

 **BANG**

 **Dominic's perspective**

-40 minutes earlier-

"Welp, I give up. How this Warehouse keeps going in the middle of nowhere with no staff and no products is a mystery. I guess I'll get some practice done for my Uni work like a productive person for once."

I start loudly chanting facts to myself about Chemistry. A few minutes into it, someone shows up.

"Hey bud, who are you?"

"... We've met before, I'm MC."

"Ah, it's a pleasure to meet you MC Hammer! I was a huge fan of Hammer Time when I was little, it's an honour!"

"... Wow. Did I take too much blood by mistake?"

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask someone about that! I could really use some blood, I kinda lost a lot, which is supposed to have adverse effects on mental ability but… let's be real here, I don't think anyone has even noticed."

"... Yes, let's go with that. God, my first kill can't be him in this state of mind, I'd feel bad about it. It'd be like shooting a mentally disabled four-year-old."

"No u."

"People… don't do that when they're not on the internet..."

"We're not on the internet? Well damn! So wait, who are you?"

"I LITERALLY JUST TOLD YOU!"

"Oh. My bad. Hey, you've got a gun, those are illegal in New Zealand! Definitely at least a violation of Warehouse's store policy. Don't worry though bud, I won't get you in trouble, I like you."

"Okay then? Thanks?"

"You know, I've never seen a gun before in person… Are they just standard bullets? Because you'd be amazed at what you can do with some advanced knowledge of organic chemicals, body fluids, and standard bullets!"

I can see he's suddenly interested.

"Oh? Do you still know how to do that, in your current condition?"

"You got a lighter? I need a makeshift bunsen burner."

 **Monika's perspective**

 **Bang! Bang! Bang!**

I wait for the bullet wound to pierce my flesh. I wait a little longer. A little longer. Are my pain receptors on? Yeah, they would be… so why can't I feel anything?

I open my eyes and see MC reloading.

"Y-You missed four shots?"

"I don't miss."

I look around, and see a gaping hole in the wall. Oh yeah, this was the outer wall… he blew a hole out onto a normal beach. And… is that a flare in the background?

Permission Set Admin

Confirm choice?

Y.

My... My admin privileges are back!

"MC? Wh-What's going on?"

"I checked the terminals and found that somehow Natsuki had figured out how to contact your puppet state. They should be in the region, and that flare should tell them where to go."

"H-How?"

"Turns out Dominic, idiot that he may be right now, is surprisingly good at making explosives out of bodily fluids. Like, concerningly so."

Sayori, Dominic, and Natsuki ran around the corner. For whatever reason, they're carrying Yuri, who is in a straightjacket, and unconscious.

"What the hell was that?!" Natsuki exclaimed.

Then they noticed the MC.

"¡AY CARAMBA!" Sayori exclaims, while Natsuki drops Yuri on her head and runs between the MC and I. Dominic starts singing Hammer Time for some reason that I'm unaware of upon seeing MC.

"Don't worry guys, he just passed up an opportunity to kill me, and summoned help for us. Now quickly, out the hole in the wall!"

Wait, Hole in the wall? Heh, that was actually unintentional. I look at Dominic, hoping he noticed it too, before remembering he's not really very observant at the moment. That's a pity, he'd normally love that.

As an array of alarms blare in the background, we break out into the night.


End file.
